John Ameriks, global head of quantitative equities at Vanguard, said Bitcoin It’s still more of a speculative collectible than an asset designed to build long-term wealth compared to the “digital booboo,” a stuffed toy that has become a popular collectible.
Ameriks made the remarks at a Bloomberg ETF Deep Depth conference in New York on Thursday, where he said Bitcoin lacks the income, compounding and cash flow characteristics that Vanguard looks for when evaluating long-term investments.
His dismissive stance comes as Vanguard just opened its platform to cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds, allowing its 50 million clients to access regulated investment vehicles from rivals such as BlackRock and Fidelity.
The asset management giant’s reluctant embrace of cryptocurrencies reverses long-held skepticism about the entire asset class. For years, Vanguard has opposed offering cryptocurrency products to clients and reiterated its view that digital assets are highly speculative and inconsistent with its core investment philosophy.
That view apparently hasn’t changed, according to Americus. As a result, Vanguard does not plan to launch its own cryptocurrency-focused ETF. The decision is noteworthy because Bitcoin ETFs have become BlackRock’s largest source of revenue.
Nonetheless, after Vanguard saw that crypto ETFs and funds “have weathered periods of market volatility, performing as designed while maintaining liquidity,” the company opened its brokerage platform to these products.
Even with this access, Ameriks said Vanguard does not advise clients on whether to buy or sell cryptoassets or which tokens to hold.
Americus said Bitcoin could eventually show non-speculative value under certain conditions, such as high inflation or political instability, but he believed the evidence was still limited. “Your history is too short,” he said.
