ETF pioneer Vanguard has reinforced its “non-cryptocurrency” investment policy by withdrawing from bitcoin futures, despite the recent rush into bitcoin spot ETFs in the market. Yesterday, it was announced that Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley will retire at the end of the year. Will Vanguard’s stance on cryptocurrency change?
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Vanguard, the pioneer of ETFs
Vanguard’s refusal of bitcoin ETF leads to heavy losses?
Vanguard is the world’s first ETF issuer. Founder Jack Bogle launched the first open-ended index fund, the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, in 1976, which is also the predecessor of ETFs. Since then, the development of ETFs has expanded from stocks to bonds and then to commodities.
Tim Buckley is the president and CEO of Vanguard Group. He joined Vanguard in 1991 and became CEO in 2018, serving the company for 33 years.
Under his leadership, Vanguard’s business has achieved significant growth. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas compared the growth of asset management companies by assets under management (AUM). Vanguard’s assets increased by $4 trillion in six years, accounting for one-third of all ETF flows. Balchunas also referred to Buckley as one of the best-performing CEOs in the history of asset management companies.
Greg Davis, the chief investment officer, will be appointed as president, and the board will begin searching for a new CEO.
Another Bloomberg analyst, James Seyffart, also questioned on X: How severe were the losses suffered by Vanguard after rejecting bitcoin ETFs?
Just this year, the flow of their ETF VOO exceeded BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF by more than double, reaching $15.7 billion. And this is just the norm for VOO!
Will Vanguard change its direction and open the door to cryptocurrency bans after changing its CEO?
Balchunas said:
“I am 95% certain that this decision has nothing to do with it. But I do predict that they will change over time.”
Tim Buckley
Vanguard
Further Reading:
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