The Crypto Community Responds to Vanguard’s Anti-Bitcoin Stance

Asset management giant Vanguard's decision to block its clients from accessing its licensed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has sparked an unhappy response from the crypto community.

According to several posts on social media platform X, community members believe Vanguard's days are numbered when the asset manager's clients withdraw from their accounts in droves.

Counted days

Following the US 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 trading began the next day.

However, some Wall Street giants, such as Bank of America-owned Merrill Lynch, Vanguard, UBS and Citi, have informed their customers that the new products will not be available for purchase on their platforms. While Citi, UBS and Merrill Lynch have begun offering ETFs to some clients or are considering doing so, Vanguard remains committed to keeping clients from accessing Bitcoin products.

As a result, many users have moved their investment portfolios to more convenient platforms like Fidelity, prompting a move to cancel Vanguard's “repugnant behavior” with its pretentious stance and voting with their wallets.

According to X user Mike Alfred, Vanguard's days are numbered as the company was once a great company that fought for good results for investors. He recounted an incident in which he met the asset manager's founder, Jack Bogle, a few years before his death, describing his willingness to be creative and “upset the system.”

From Jack Bogle's unethical vanguard in his 20's and 30's, today he is part of Tradfi's evil empire. If you don't innovate, you die, and the vanguard is going into the dustbin of history.” Alfred said.

Stupid claims

Vanguard was reconsidering its anti-Bitcoin stance after Alfred's tweets were removed from their product, so it highlighted a separate article praising the power of X.

While no indication of Vanguard's reconsideration is yet to be seen, market participants call the company's claims foolish.

According to Dave Weisberger, co-CEO of algorithmic crypto trading platform CoinRoutes, Vanguard's decision to implement its core principle of providing customers with an efficient way to exercise their choice is a “terrible” marketing move.

“Since investors allow themselves to be trapped in GBTC for years, their claims are silly. It is completely hypocritical as it stands,” he added.