Vanguard Breaks Tradition: Crypto ETFs Coming to Brokerage Platform in Landshift Move

Wall Street's most conservative giant just blinked—and the crypto world felt the tremor.

The Platform Play

Vanguard's brokerage arm prepares to onboard Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, marking a stunning reversal for the firm that banned crypto purchases just two years ago. The move positions them to capture the institutional wave that's been building since spot ETF approvals.

Behind the Pivot

Pressure from clients—not philosophical change—drives this shift. Asset managers can't ignore the $50 billion flowing into crypto ETFs while traditional products bleed. Vanguard finally acknowledges what BlackRock figured out months ago: you can't fight the tape.

The Fine Print

Expect tightly curated offerings—likely just the spot Bitcoin ETFs that cleared SEC hurdles. No altcoin funds or leveraged products. Vanguard will probably slap warning labels everywhere like a helicopter parent at a skate park.

Another finance giant bends the knee to digital assets. Maybe traditional finance isn't as traditional as it pretends.

Rise in crypto-based ETFs

The rise in crypto-based ETFs started in 2024, when the SEC gave the green light for the first spot bitcoin ETFs. This was a big change in mainstream finance, as it let both institutional and retail investors get regulated access to Bitcoin without actually owning it. 

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) quickly became the most popular ETF, bringing in billions of dollars and changing the way ETFs work. Leon Waidmann, the Research Director at the Onchain Foundation, said that the company’s crypto ETF business makes $260 million a year, with $218 million coming from Bitcoin ETFs and $42 million coming from ethereum products. 

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