Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley stated that his firm has no plans to pursue a spot bitcoin ETF.
He said that despite growing optimism over the regulatory path toward the creation of a spot bitcoin ETF, not every member of Wall Street intends to pursue one, despite the fact that rival asset management companies like BlackRock and Fidelity have applications pending.
During an interaction with CNBC, Tim Buckley said, “We won’t be pursuing a bitcoin ETF. It’s just like we don’t use gold as an asset class for our clients.”
“It’s not that people can’t invest in there. We just look at asset classes or, you know, what belongs in a long-term portfolio, what has intrinsic value, has cash flows to it? And those are the asset classes we steer people towards. And so we don’t go towards bitcoin or gold or any other of those stable assets,” Tim Buckley added.
Vanguard believes that the investment case for cryptocurrencies is weak, a spokesman subsequently told Business Insider India.
“Unlike stocks and bonds, most cryptocurrencies lack intrinsic economic value and generate no cash flows, such as interest payments or dividends. Further, cryptocurrencies have proven to be highly volatile, which runs counter to Vanguard’s goal to generate positive real returns to investors over time,” Tim Buckley said.
BlackRock’s application for a spot bitcoin ETF is still being reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Even though the regulator permits bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs), it has a critical view of the cryptocurrency industry and has rejected similar applications in the past.
However, Grayscale Investments prevailed in court against the SEC in August after the agency had previously denied an attempt to convert its over-the-counter bitcoin trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The court ruling gave rise to expectations that the regulatory roadblocks would soon be removed, enabling the approval of a spot bitcoin ETF.