Will the investment policy of Vanguard change as its CEO, Mr. Vanguard, is about to retire?
ETF pioneer Vanguard has taken a different approach by strengthening its “non-cryptocurrency” investment policy, including withdrawing from Bitcoin futures, while other market players have been rushing into Bitcoin spot ETFs. 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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ETF inventor backs out! Vanguard withdraws from Bitcoin futures, solidifying its position on “non-cryptocurrency” investments.
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Vanguard, the ETF pioneer
Did Vanguard’s refusal of Bitcoin ETF result in heavy losses?
Vanguard is the world’s first ETF issuer. Founder Jack Bogle introduced the first open-end index fund, the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, in 1976, which is also the precursor to ETFs. Since then, the development of ETFs has expanded from stocks to bonds and then to commodities.
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Tim Buckley is the President and CEO of Vanguard Group. He joined Vanguard Group in 1991 and became CEO in 2018, serving the company for 33 years to date.
Under his leadership, Vanguard Group has achieved significant growth in its business. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas compared the asset growth of various asset management companies using assets under management (AUM) and found that Vanguard’s assets increased by $4 trillion in six years, accounting for one-third of all ETF flows. He 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 President, and the board of directors will begin the search for a new CEO.
Another Bloomberg analyst, James Seyffart, also asked on Twitter: How much damage did Vanguard suffer from rejecting Bitcoin ETFs?
Just this year, their ETF VOO has had flow exceeding BlackRock’s IBIT by over two times, reaching $15.7 billion. And this is just the norm for VOO!
With the change in CEO, will Vanguard change its direction and open the door to a ban on cryptocurrency?
Balchunas stated:
I’m 95% sure this has nothing to do with that decision. But I do predict they will change over time.
Tim Buckley
Vanguard
Further reading
Too good to be true? Bloomberg: Wells Fargo, Merrill Lynch to offer Bitcoin ETFs
Blast launches mainnet, users compete for points using on-chain protocol
