Share this article
Vanguard Taps Symbiont's Private Blockchain for Index Fund Data
The partners say the blockchain technology speeds up data delivery from the index provider, removes the need for manual intervention and lowers risk.
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 7:16 a.m. Published Dec 13, 2017, 9:45 a.m.
Vanguard, the mutual fund giant, will begin using smart contract technology developed by blockchain startup Symbiont in some of its actual business processes starting early next year.
For the last few months, the companies have been testing the technology to simplify the way Vanguard takes in data from the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. This information is used to determine the composition of certain index funds managed by Vanguard, and includes things like company names, share counts, index weighting and corporate actions such as mergers or stock splits.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The three partners found the private blockchain speeds up delivery of the data from CRSP to Vanguard, removes the need for manual intervention and lowers risk. The project will go into full production in early 2018, the companies said Tuesday.
Warren Pennington, a principal in Vanguard's Investment Management Group said in a release:
"Using this platform, investment managers will be able to instantly distribute, receive, and process index data, resulting in better benchmark tracking and significant cost savings that potentially results in better returns for our clients."
The partnership will involve 17 index funds totaling $1.15 trillion in assets, including Vanguard's largest, the $650 billion Total Stock Market Index fund. To be sure, that's just a portion of Vanguard's business; it manages 186 index products, with $3.56 trillion in assets, as part of a total 376 funds containing $4.8 trillion.
Still, it's a noticeable advance for enterprise applications of blockchain technology at a time when most of the industry spotlight has been on the boom in cryptocurrencies and token sales.
The news follows last week's decision by the Australian Securities Exchange to replace its clearing and settlement system with a distributed ledger alternative from startup Digital Asset following years of deliberations.
Vanguard image via Shutterstock
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bitcoin Treads Water Near $90K as Bitfinex Warns of 'Fragile Setup' to Shocks
BTC's relative weakness compared to stocks points to tepid spot demand, making the largest crypto vulnerable to macro volatility, Bitfinex analysts said.
What to know:
- Bitcoin erased very modest overnight gains early Monday and spent the rest of the U.S. session in a tight range around the $90,000 level.
- Rising long bond yields and a small U.S. equities pulling back weighed on risk appetite as traders eye this week's Federal Reserve meeting.
- Bitfinex analysts pointed out bitcoin's relative weakness against U.S. stocks amid modest spot demand and structural softness.
Top Stories
