Vanguard Shunning Spot Bitcoin ETF Might Be Paying Off

Investment management company Vanguard has seen up to $30 billion in inflows since the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved spot Bitcoin ETFs. 

Vanguard Boycotting BTC ETFs

Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas confirmed that Vanguard has registered more than six times the entire net inflows recorded by all ten spot Bitcoin ETFs in that few weeks. Notably, this new development showcases Vanguard’s dominance in the Traditional Finance (TradFi) sector amidst hype around spot Bitcoin ETFs and the broad crypto industry.

Outflows? Vanguard has taken IN about $30b since the bitcoin ETFs launched, or 6x what the btc ETFs have done. They're on another level, and i say this as someone in awe of what the btc ETFs have done. They are TradFi Moby Dick. Best to not get obsessed w taking them down. https://t.co/fpRdpKcsr6

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 18, 2024

It is worth acknowledging that the cryptocurrency industry has received a lot of attention in the last few weeks, especially with the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs. 

With the likes of BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, and even Invesco taking a slice of the Bitcoin ETF market, there were expectations that Vanguard would join the list. However, the investment asset manager refused to participate, citing that the crypto market is highly speculative and unregulated.

As a way of upholding its decision to not join the burgeoning spot Bitcoin ETF train, Vanguard removed existing Bitcoin futures products from its brokerage offerings. This means that the firm stopped accepting purchases of cryptocurrency products, including Bitcoin futures ETFs. 

Vanguard was clearly trying to establish its clear stance against delving into the crypto market amid the painted attractiveness. 

Will Vanguard Reconsider Spot Bitcoin ETF?

Even though Vanguard seemed very rigid in its position, Balchunas opined that the company would change its stance about Bitcoin at a later date, especially after considering its mission to diversify its investment portfolios. So far, Vanguard has not shown any form of interest in the new Bitcoin ETF offering.

To this end, Vanguard received several bouts of criticism and backlash from top crypto market players. Cathie Wood of ARK Invest tagged Vanguard’s decision to exclude the Bitcoin ETF as “terrible”. Many of these experts believed that Vanguard was making a wrong move which it may regret in the future.

This far, it looks like the crypto experts are wrong with their statements after all as the reported $30 billion inflows confirm that Vanguard is doing well in its chosen TradFi sector. It is likely that Vanguard’s newly found ‘hobby’, Artificial Intelligence, may have also contributed to its huge inflows. 

The firm recently integrated AI into its list of businesses.