New Vanguard CEO says asset manager 'will not be launching crypto ETFs'

Salim Ramji took over as Vanguard chief executive officer last month after spending a decade in senior leadership roles with BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager. Most recently at BlackRock, Ramji was global head of iShares & index investing, where he was responsible for managing a majority of the firm’s client assets and evolving the iShares platform.

His contributions led to a more central role for exchange-traded funds "in retirement and wealth portfolios and a more efficient bond market with ETFs as an enabling technology," according to a release.

The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (ticker: IBIT) is by far the largest spot BTC ETF on the market since debuting in January, currently sporting a market cap of $127 billion. BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ticker: ETHA) is also the largest spot ETH on the market since those funds were approved to start trading in July.

So, will Ramji help Vanguard get into the crypto ETF game? Not at this time.

In an interview with ETF.com, Ramji was asked if we could we expect Vanguard to "rapidly expand its offerings" and specifically asked about crypto funds.

"I’m not going to copy competitors. It’s important that a company stay consistent with who they are," Ramji told ETF.com's Allen Roth. "But I want more innovation... Vanguard has had active funds from its early days and is one of the largest active management firms. Jack Bogle's 'cost matters hypothesis' is something we will always keep in mind. We will not be launching crypto ETFs."

Vanguard is the world's second-largest asset manager with over $9 trillion in assets under management. IBIT has over $20 billion AUM while ETHA has about $780 million in AUM, according to The Block's Data Dashboards.