Wall Street Giant Vanguard Caught with Bitcoin Exposure Despite Public Skepticism

Hold onto your hats, crypto fans! The Wall Street behemoth Vanguard, notorious for its icy stance on cryptocurrencies, has been caught red-handed with a massive indirect exposure to Bitcoin through its hefty investments in Strategy and other stocks. Yeah, you heard that right!

Vanguard's been preaching that crypto's too wild and doesn't hold real value. But here's the kicker: with over $10.4 trillion under its belt, this investment giant's now the biggest institutional supporter of Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy. Talk about a plot twist!

Get this - Vanguard's clutching over 20 million shares of Strategy's Class A common stock. That's right, they've zoomed past Capital Group Cos. to become the top dog shareholder in the fourth quarter of 2024. Bloomberg's the one spilling these juicy details.

How'd they get here? It's all thanks to the sneaky mechanics of their index funds and ETFs. These funds are like robots, automatically scooping up companies based on market cap, where they're listed, where they're from, and what industry they're in. No human touch needed!

Irony of Vanguard Holding BTC Firms

Vanguard's been waving the flag against all things crypto, Bitcoin included. They've even dodged the Bitcoin ETF race and declared they've got no plans to jump in. According to them, crypto doesn't belong with the big boys like stocks, bonds, and cash in a solid, long-term portfolio.

But guess what? They're sitting pretty as one of the biggest institutional holders of Strategy. Eric Balchunas, the sharp-eyed senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, calls it a wild twist of fate.

"Vanguard chose this life. When you run an index fund, you're stuck with every stock, no matter if you love 'em or hate 'em," Balchunas drops the truth bomb.

Vanguard's always played it safe, telling everyone that crypto's too rollercoaster-like for their crowd. But hold up - there's chatter that they might be warming up to Bitcoin and ETFs. Back in January, Balchunas threw out a bold prediction: Vanguard's going to ease up on its Bitcoin ban sooner or later.