Vanguard Group, the $10 trillion asset manager, is reportedly weighing plans to let U.S. brokerage clients access cryptocurrency ETFs, according to a report published on Friday.
Vanguard Rethinks Its Crypto Stance
Former Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett cited sources familiar with the matter that the firm has begun preliminary reviews of third-party crypto ETFs, which brokerage customers may be given access to.
As of today, no timeline or proprietary product lineup has been confirmed.
Any move forward, however, would mark a sharp departure from its traditionally cautious approach.
Vanguard has long resisted offering cryptocurrency ETFs, arguing that digital assets remain volatile and lack intrinsic value.
In 2024, the firm’s head of ETFs, Janel Jackson, described crypto as “an immature asset class with little history and no inherent economic value.”
That stance is now under pressure as client demand builds and the regulatory climate becomes more favorable.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also shortened approval times for new crypto ETFs to 75 days, a shift that has already fueled more than 20 product launches since 2024.
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Peers Move First
BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) and Fidelity have already benefited from the new framework.
BlackRock’s flagshipiShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: IBIT), launched in 2024 under current Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji’s leadership while at BlackRock, has grown to more than US$80 billion in assets.
Why It Matters for Investors
Vanguard’s CEO Salim Ramji, a former BlackRock executive, has stressed risk mitigation but has not ruled out adopting crypto ETF access.
If Vanguard follows through with crypto ETF access, the impact would go beyond product choice.
With nearly US$10 trillion under management and more than 50 million client accounts, even a limited allocation toward Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), or Solana CRYPTO: SOL) ETFs could shift liquidity patterns across both spot and derivatives markets.
The firm is unlikely to chase speculative products, meaning any rollout would probably focus on the largest, most liquid ETFs.
That approach may limit upside for smaller tokens but could stabilize flows into the broader market.
For investors, this signals that crypto is moving from the margins toward the core of asset allocation in traditional finance.
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