Salim Ramji took over as CEO of Vanguard last month after a decade in senior leadership roles at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. Most recently, he was Global Head of iShares and Index Investments at BlackRock, where he was responsible for managing the majority of the firm’s client assets and developing the iShares platform.
According to the press release, his contributions have helped ETFs play a more central role “in retirement and asset portfolios” and created a more efficient bond market that uses ETFs as a supporting technology.
The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (ticker: IBIT) is by far the largest spot. Bitcoin
-3.08%
So, will Ramji help Vanguard get into the crypto ETF game? Not now.
In an interview with ETF.com, Ramsey was asked whether Vanguard can expect to “rapidly expand its offerings,” specifically cryptocurrency funds.
“I’m not going to copy my competitors. It’s important for me to be consistent with who I am,” Ramji told ETF.com’s Allen Roth. “But I would like to see more innovation… Vanguard has been actively managing funds since the beginning and is one of the largest active management firms. Jack Bogle’s ‘cost-effectiveness hypothesis’ is something we will always keep in mind. We will not be launching a cryptocurrency ETF.”
Vanguard is the world’s second-largest asset manager with over $9 trillion in assets under management. IBIT has over $20 billion in AUM, and ETHA has about $780 million in AUM, according to The Block’s Data Dashboards.
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About the Author
Jason is the U.S. News Editor for The Block. He previously worked as a staff writer and later as an editor at Benzinga, a financial news and data company. He led Benzinga’s daily market coverage and the publication’s expansion into cannabis, cryptocurrency, and sports betting verticals. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Central Michigan University and lives in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. Follow him on X @JasonShubnell.