The old fossils on Wall Street finally couldn’t hold out any longer.

On December 2, 2025, Vanguard, which manages $11 trillion, suddenly announced that its more than 50 million brokerage accounts can now trade ETFs for Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and SOL. Yes, this is the same Vanguard that used to harshly criticize cryptocurrencies and even delisted Bitcoin futures ETFs.

How ironic is this move? Last year, when the US approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, other platforms were scrambling to attract customers, but Vanguard stubbornly refused to let users touch them. Their founder, Bogle, always looked down on high-volatility assets and considered cryptocurrencies nothing more than speculative gambling.

But things are different now. The new CEO, Ramji (yes, the one who jumped ship from BlackRock), made a complete 180. Although they’re still saying, “We won’t launch our own crypto products,” they’ve opened the gates—except for meme coins, any compliant third-party crypto ETF is fair game.

The reason? Simply put, customers are voting with their wallets. Competitors like Fidelity and Schwab opened up long ago, and if Vanguard keeps acting holier-than-thou, clients will just take their money elsewhere. The market waits for no one.

As soon as the news broke, a leading exchange’s Bitcoin ETF trading volume soared to $5.1 billion that day. The final line of defense for traditional finance has just collapsed.