Vanguard CEO set to retire, will the "no cryptocurrency" investment policy change?

The pioneer Vanguard, the inventor of ETFs, has taken a different approach amidst the recent rush of the market into Bitcoin spot ETFs by reinforcing its "no cryptocurrency" investment policy, including withdrawing from Bitcoin futures on its platform. Yesterday, it was shocking news that its CEO, Tim Buckley, will retire at the end of the year. Will Vanguard's stance on cryptocurrency change?

ETF Inventor Stands Firm! Vanguard Withdraws from Bitcoin Futures, Solidifying "No Cryptocurrency" Investment Position

Vanguard, the Pioneer of ETFs

Vanguard is the world's first ETF issuer. Founder Jack Bogle launched the first open-end index fund, the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, in 1976, which was the precursor to ETFs. The development of ETFs has since expanded from stocks to bonds, and then to commodities.

Tim Buckley is the President and CEO of Vanguard Group. He joined Vanguard in 1991 and became CEO in 2018, serving the company for 33 years.

Under his leadership, Vanguard Group has seen significant growth. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas compared the growth of asset management companies by Assets Under Management (AUM), and Vanguard's assets increased by $4 trillion in six years, representing one-third of all ETF flows. He referred to Buckley as one of the best-performing CEOs among all asset management companies in history.

Buckley's had one of the best runs of any asset manager CEO ever, at least if we talking $ growth, he saw Vanguard assets grow by $4T in about six years flat. They took in 1/3 of all ETF flows. Here's a look at their MF/ETF assets vs next 7 biggest firms via our new league table pic.twitter.com/7NIsUykBMI

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 29, 2024

Investment Chief Greg Davis will be appointed as President, and the board will begin the search for a new CEO.

Did Vanguard Suffer Heavy Losses by Rejecting Bitcoin ETFs?

Another Bloomberg analyst, James Seyffart, asked on X: How severe were the losses suffered by Vanguard after rejecting Bitcoin ETFs?

Just their ETF VOO has more than doubled the flows of BlackRock's IBIT this year alone, reaching $15.7 billion. And that's just the norm for VOO!

Q: How badly is Vanguard suffering after denying #bitcoin ETFs?

A: Just one of their ETF's, $VOO, is casually doing more than double $IBIT's flow this year — $15.7 billion. This is just the norm for $VOO & not even worth mentioning typically

They're doing just fine my friends pic.twitter.com/AvUcUgvt6m

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) February 29, 2024

Will Vanguard change its direction and potentially open the doors for cryptocurrency bans after the CEO change?

Balchunas stated:

I'm 95% sure it has nothing to do with this decision. But I do predict they will change over time.