- Vanguard now allows over 50 million clients to trade Solana ETFs and other crypto products on its platform.
- Vanguard shifts away from its tough stance towards crypto amid increased demand among investors, favorable regulations, and leadership changes.
Vanguard, a leading asset manager with over $11 trillion in assets under management, has received approval to trade Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This approval reverses a long-standing perspective that digital assets are too volatile and speculative for serious portfolios.
Vanguard Now Permitting Crypto ETFs
Beginning today, over 50 million Vanguard brokerage clients can trade ETFs tied to Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, and Solana on the platform.
Note that Vanguard is not launching its own crypto ETF products. Rather, the asset manager is opening its platform to third-party ETFs that track the digital assets.
The approval is huge for SOL, as it gains legitimacy alongside BTC and ETH. It also highlights a growing institutional interest in cryptocurrencies
Moreover, it comes amid the recent launch of SOL ETFs by top U.S. firms. Previously, we explored Fidelity and Canary launched new Solana ETFs: FSOL and SOLC.
These ETFs registered notable inflows on the first day of trading. This signaled early appetite from professional investors seeking regulated exposure to SOL.
In January, JPMorgan predicted that SOL ETFs might draw between $3 billion and $6 billion in net new assets during the first year. The forecasts align with historical trends where Bitcoin ETFs acquired around $108 billion in assets in their first year.
However, as major issuers dominate U.S. crypto inflows, CoinShares recently withdrew plans to launch a Solana Staking ETF. As noted in our earlier post, CoinShares initially filed for a Solana Staking ETF in June and amended it multiple times through September.
Why is Vanguard Shifting its Tough Crypto Stance?
Vanguard published a report over 4 years ago to explain why it is not supporting crypto products. The firm named concerns about volatility and other headwinds linked to the assets.
However, demand from both retail and institutional clients has spurred its decision to allow crypto ETFs on its platform.
Crypto-linked ETFs remain one of the fastest-growing segments in the history of the US fund industry despite recent price correction. Considering the rapid growth of the sector, Vanguard could no longer ignore clients’ requests for access.
Crypto bulls view the Vanguard shift as a sign that traditional finance can no longer resist the gravitational pull of digital assets. In our last update, we examined how Franklin Templeton expanded its crypto index ETF by including six new digital tokens.
Also, regulators have approved more crypto ETFs in 2025. Andrew Kadjeski, head of brokerage at Vanguard, commented that infrastructure has matured as investor preference continues to evolve.
Leadership changes within the firm may have also contributed to the shift. Last year, an ex-BlackRock executive and crypto advocate, Salim Ramji, became CEO of Vanguard.
For now, Vanguard said its role is limited to offering access, rather than issuing or managing digital assets. The asset manager added that products tied to memecoins will remain excluded from the platform.
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