Vanguard Group, which manages over 9 trillion, officially allows clients to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto ETFs.

Research shows that 35% of young affluent Americans have switched service providers because their financial advisors do not offer crypto channels.

Written by: Blockchain Knight

On December 2, Vanguard Group, which manages over 9.3 trillions USD in assets, officially opened its brokerage platform, allowing clients to trade crypto ETFs such as bitcoin and ethereum, thus ending its long-standing isolation from the 3 trillions USD digital asset market.

This reversal has become a milestone event in traditional finance's acceptance of the crypto economy.

As a top institution that once firmly resisted cryptocurrencies, Vanguard Group previously believed that their high volatility was at odds with its long-term investment philosophy.

In this shift, Vanguard Group has stuck to its core positioning by not launching its own crypto funds, but only providing regulated products from competitors such as BlackRock and Fidelity as a channel. The CEO of Bitwise pointed out that the market's lukewarm response to this major policy adjustment precisely confirms the mainstreaming of crypto assets.

Regulatory breakthroughs are the key prerequisite for this change. The SEC's stance has shifted to support innovation, and combined with court rulings clarifying the rules, this has eliminated the regulatory uncertainty that had long troubled Vanguard Group. The mature framework of bitcoin ETFs has also significantly reduced platform operational risks.

Of course, market demand and competitive pressure are the direct driving forces. Research shows that 35% of young affluent Americans have switched service providers because their financial advisors do not offer crypto channels.

BlackRock's IBIT has become one of the fastest-growing ETFs in the US. Currently, spot bitcoin ETFs have reached a scale of 120 billions USD, and ethereum ETFs are close to 20 billions USD.

At the same time, a large number of clients hold crypto assets outside of Vanguard Group, resulting in fragmented asset management and becoming a competitive weakness for Vanguard Group. Its brokerage head admitted that crypto ETFs have already withstood market volatility, and changes in investor preferences have prompted the platform to adjust its strategy.

For the crypto ETF market, the value of Vanguard Group's entry lies not in the speed of short-term capital inflows but in stability.

Its clients are mainly passive long-term investors, so initial allocations may be limited, but even a 0.1%-0.2% penetration rate of eligible assets would mean billions of dollars in inflows.

More importantly, its funds have a "non-price-sensitive" characteristic. In a "60/40/1" (allocation ratio of stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies at 60/40/1) investment portfolio, algorithms will automatically rebalance and buy more crypto when prices fall to maintain a 1% weighting, forming a structural "buy the dip" mechanism.

In addition, Vanguard Group's trading volume will narrow ETF bid-ask spreads, reduce investor costs, and improve pricing efficiency. If only a small portion of clients allocate 1%-2% of their assets to this, it could generate tens of billions of dollars in new demand.

Vanguard Group's defensive layout not only responds to client demand but also injects long-term stable capital into the crypto market. This move marks that cryptocurrencies have officially become an optional allocation in mainstream investment portfolios, rather than just speculative targets.