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Kadjeski: Investors have a lot of choices these days when it comes to where to save for their retirement, invest for their kids' education, and hold their emergency savings. Investors who come directly to Vanguard do so because they know we put their interests firstand that is reflected in what products and services we do and don't have on the shelf.

The easy step for us would have been just to allow full access to crypto-related products. But as a firm and a brokerage platform, we're purposely structured to meet the needs of our investor-owners, most of whom are long-term, buy-and-hold investors.2

Jackson: In Vanguard's view, crypto is more of a speculation than an investment. This is at the root of our decision to not offer crypto products, whether our own or others. With equities, you own a share of a company that produces goods or services, and many also pay dividends. With bonds, you get a stream of interest payments. Commodities are real assets that meet consumption needs, have inflation-hedging properties, and can play a role in certain portfolios. While crypto has been classified as a commodity, it's an immature asset class that has little history, no inherent economic value, no cash flow, and can create havoc within a portfolio.

Morningstar recently published a perceptive article pointing out that even a modest 5% allocation to bitcoin in an otherwise traditional balanced portfolio can drastically raise its risk profile.3 This is driven, in large part, by bitcoin's extreme volatility.

Kadjeski: Over just the past three years, the price of bitcoin has increased by as much as 150% and declined by as much as 77%. Double-digit percent price drops are routine among cryptocurrencies. Remember that you need a 100% return just to make up for a 50% decline. And the more volatile an asset, the more tempting it is to trade. At Vanguard, our products and services are designed with the goal to help investors save more, trade less, and take a long-term approachnot chase trends and churn their portfolios.

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No bitcoin ETFs at Vanguard? Here's why - Vanguard