Crypto News Today: Microstrategy Joins World Index | Vanguard Rules Out Bitcoin ETF

The crypto market entered a mild-correction phase on May 16 after pulling in over 100 billion capital inflows in the last 24-hours. As institutional involvement in crypto grows, Vanguard, Microstrategy and Blocktower dominated the headlines with varying landmark events. 

Vanguard’s New CEO Rules Out Spot Bitcoin ETF Launch

Salim Ramji, who is set become Vanguard’s Chief Executive Officer on July 8, succeeding Tim Buckley, has made it clear that the company has no plans to introduce its own spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

In a recent interview with Barron’s, Ramji emphasized the importance of alignment between a firm’s products and its core values. He reinforced this point by referencing Vanguard’s investment philosophy, as explained by Chief Investment Officer Greg Davis.

While Vanguard has decided against launching its own spot Bitcoin ETF, the firm controversially also doesn’t offer its clients trading access to the numerous spot Bitcoin ETFs that were launched in the U.S., something that wasn’t addressed in the interview.

Before joining Vanguard, Ramji was at BlackRock, where he led the global iShares business and played a key role in BlackRock’s successful bid to launch and gain approval for a spot Bitcoin ETF, before departing the company.

MicroStrategy Joins MSCI World Index

Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin with over $13 billion worth of BTC on its balance sheet, will be added to the key MSCI World Index after the firm’s shares rallied.

The move will mean MicroStrategy will be one of the three largest additions to the global equity index in terms of market capitalization, Index providers regularly update their gauges, with the latest changes taking effect at the end of May.

The shift further shows how cryptocurrency exposure is increasingly finding its way onto traditional investment portfolios, given that billions of dollars track or are benchmarked against the MSCI World Index.

MicroStrategy is being added to the index months after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the country, with several institutional giants including JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and BNP Paribas having added exposure to BTC through these funds.

BlockTower Capital Suffers Security Breach That Saw Hackers Drain Hedge fund Assets

Prominent cryptocurrency investment firm BlockTower Capital has been hacked, with attackers breaching its main hedge fund and draining an undisclosed amount of assets from it.

The firm, which manages $1.7 billion in assets, has hired blockchain specialists to investigate the breach and recently informed investors in the fund of what happened, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Founded in 2017, BlockTower has invested in major companies within the cryptocurrency space like non-fungible token (NFT) developer Dapper Labs, gaming studio Sky Mavis, and the firm behind the collapsed TerraUSD stablecoin Terraform Labs.

Last year the firm shut down its “market-neutral” cryptocurrency fund that managed more than $100 million at one point, over a lack of suitable investment opportunities within that strategy.