Vanguard, the active manager of 10 billions of dollars known in Crypto circles to block customer access to Bitcoin ETF, has become the largest institutional shareholder in the strategy (MSTR)A company whose business model is built around the purchase and detention of Bitcoin.
According to Bloomberg, Vanguard now has more than 20 million MSTR shares – more than 8% of the company – exceeding Capital Group as the first institutional holder. Participation is about $ 9.26 billion.
“God has a sense of humor,” said Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg analyst, who also wrote the Bolge effect. “Vanguard has chosen this life.
“Institutional dementia,” said Matthew Sigel a little less diplomatic, manager of digital asset research in Vaneck. “The indexing of $ 9 billion of what you openly make fun of is not a strategy,” he wrote in an article on X.
Vanguard’s exhibition comes from passively managed index funds, and not from a deliberate bet on the Bitcoin or Strategy strategy. MSTR is included in several of Vanguard funds, such as the Total Fund for the Stock Stock Markets Index (Vitsx)The Vanguard Extended Market Fund (Vieix) and the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG).
These funds reflect the composition of large stock indices and automatically include companies such as strategy when they meet certain criteria.
The strategy, led by Executive President Michael Saylor, has turned into a Bitcoin Holding vehicle, acquiring more than 600,000 BTCs worth around 72 billion dollars since 2020. The actions of the company have become an indirect indicator of the Bitcoin exposure, in particular in the years preceding Bitcoin ETF approved in the United States.
However, Vanguard remains opposed to the asset class. The company refused to offer customers access to Bitcoin ETF, even if competitors like Blackrock have launched the Ishares Bitcoin Trust that is successful (Ibit)which has become the fastest ETF to manage more than $ 80 billion in assets.
Even the arrival of the allegedly convivial CEO Salim Ramji in May of last year did not move the position of the company. “I think it is important that companies have a coherence in terms of what they represent and the products and services they offer,” said Ramji after his appointment.
