Asset management giant Vanguard’s decision to block clients’ access to the just-approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has elicited unpleasant reactions from the crypto community.
According to several posts on the social media platform X, community members believe Vanguard’s days are numbered as the asset manager’s clients exit their accounts in droves.
Numbered Days
Following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of the first wave of spot Bitcoin ETFs on January 10, several investment advisors allowed users to access the products when they started trading the next day.
However, some Wall Street giants, like the Bank of America-owned Merrill Lynch, Vanguard, UBS, and Citi, informed their clients that the new products were unavailable for purchase on their platforms. While Citi, UBS, and Merrill Lynch have started offering the ETFs to some customers or are considering doing so, Vanguard has remained adamant in its stance against letting clients access the Bitcoin products.
As a result, multiple users have moved their investment portfolios to favorable platforms like Fidelity, triggering a movement to cancel Vanguard for its hypocritical stance and “really disgusting behavior” by voting with their wallets.
X user Mike Alfred said Vanguard’s days are numbered as the company was once a great firm that fought for investors’ best outcomes. He narrated an event where he met the asset manager’s founder, Jack Bogle, a few years before his death, disclosing that he was innovative and willing to “shake up the system.”
“Vanguard today is part of the evil empire of tradfi, unrecognizable from the ethos Jack Bogle had when he was in his 20s and 30s. If you don’t innovate, you die, and Vanguard is on its way to the dustbin of history,” Alfred said.
Dumb Claims
Alfred’s tweets highlighted a different post praising X’s power as rumors were making the rounds that Vanguard was reconsidering its anti-Bitcoin stance after the mass exodus from their products.
While an indication of Vanguard’s reconsideration is yet to be seen, market participants have called the firm’s claims dumb.
Dave Weisberger, the co-CEO of algorithmic crypto trading platform CoinRoutes, said Vanguard’s decision to abandon its core principle of providing clients with efficient means to implement their choices was a “catastrophic” marketing move.
“Since they let investors trap themselves in GBTC for YEARS, their claims are dumb; as it stands, it’s utter hypocrisy,” he added.
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