Vanguard's new chief executive officer has clarified that the company has no immediate plans to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, despite significant industry interest.

Salim Ramji, the newly appointed CEO of Vanguard, has confirmed that the company will not reverse its decision to abstain from launching a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). In a recent interview with Barron's, Ramji, who previously led BlackRock's global ETF business, emphasized Vanguard's commitment to consistency, stating that cryptocurrency-related investment products do not align with the firm's investment philosophy.Earlier this year, Ramji oversaw the launch of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which has attracted $18 billion in assets under management. Despite his personal interest in cryptocurrencies, Ramji's move to Vanguard sparked speculation about potential changes at the company.In contrast to Vanguard's stance, other investment management firms like Fidelity and nine others have already launched spot Bitcoin funds, collectively netting over $12 billion in net inflows. Despite Vanguard's substantial assets under management of $8.6 trillion, the company views cryptocurrencies as speculative investments and considers the asset class to be in its nascent stages of development.While Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart does not anticipate Ramji introducing a Vanguard spot Bitcoin ETF, he suggests that the CEO might reconsider the company's policy of excluding clients from purchasing other spot Bitcoin ETFs through Vanguard's brokerage platform.In March, Vanguard's outgoing CEO, Tim Buckley, expressed his belief that a Bitcoin ETF is not appropriate for long-term retirement portfolios, classifying it as a speculative asset. Buckley's statement followed customer dissatisfaction after Vanguard temporarily blocked access to spot Bitcoin ETFs following their release by other firms.It is worth noting that Vanguard indirectly holds exposure to Bitcoin through its stake in MicroStrategy, where it stands as the second-largest institutional shareholder. Despite Vanguard's resolute refusal to launch a Bitcoin ETF, rival investment companies are experiencing positive inflows as Bitcoin reclaimed the $66,000 mark with a 7% surge on May 16.Preliminary data from Farside Investors reveals that net inflows for May 15 across all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $300 million, except for BlackRock's IBIT, whose results were not yet available. Financial institutions like Morgan Stanley are exploring the possibility of expanding their sales of Bitcoin ETFs by empowering their approximately 15,000 brokers to actively recommend these products to customers.LPL Financial, the largest independent brokerage with over 22,000 brokers, announced plans in February to assess which Bitcoin funds it could offer to customers.