Financial institutions like Vanguard have no plans to allow spot trading of Bitcoin ETFs despite approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
While trading in spot Bitcoin ETFs opened on January 11 on major U.S. exchanges like Nasdaq and platforms like Robinhood plan to quickly support these products, some firms have reportedly blocked users from trading them.
Vanguard, the second largest asset manager after BlackRock, reportedly said that spot Bitcoin ETFs do not align with the company's investment philosophy.
According to several users on
I can confirm that I still own my GBTC from 3+ years ago and can only sell. I cannot add to my position or exchange my GBTC for one of the newer, lower cost ETFs.
BUT DON'T WORRY, I CAN STILL BUY THE PAPER FUTURES ETFS LIKE $BITO. WTF?
DO BETTER @Vanguard_Group
— NewWage Crypto (@NewWageCrypto) January 11, 2024
A spokesperson for the company said Vanguard also has no plans to offer a Vanguard Bitcoin ETF or other crypto-based products. The Tradfi heavyweight views crypto volatility as a risk to its long-term positive return strategy for clients, according to the representative's commentary.
Notably, Vanguard is one of the largest owners of MicroStrategy shares, the Michael Saylor company, which holds over $8 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC).
Top 10 MicroStrategy Shareholders | Source: Market Screener
Additionally, there are reports that other long-established institutions such as Merrill Lynch, Citi Bank, UBS, Wells Fargo Advisors and Raymond James will also boycott spot BTC ETFs – in particular, Merrill Lynch plans to evaluate the performance of the ETFs and possibly re-evaluate its decision to rate .
🚨SCOOP: @MerrillLynch is also not currently allowing its customers access to the $BTC spot ETFs. According to a source who received guidance from the company earlier this week, Merrill is waiting to see whether the ETFs trade efficiently before making decisions on changes… https://t.co/Fu810vdWn1
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 11, 2024
Meanwhile, Bloomberg's James Seyffart confirmed that spot Bitcoin ETFs had volume of over $1.2 billion in the first 30 minutes of trading. BTC itself briefly reached $49,000 shortly after trading opened, but has since fallen slightly in price to around $46,300, according to CoinMarketCap.
Despite the Securities and Exchange Commission's endorsement of BTC ETFs, long-time Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff continued to espouse anti-crypto rhetoric. Schiff examined mainstream media coverage of these products and questioned the liquidity following spot BTC ETFs.
Peter Schiff | Source: X
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