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Vanguard to Challenge Banks’ Grip on $6 Trillion Currency Market

  • Indexing giant testing peer-to-peer FX via blockchain
  • Firm aims to ‘lower the cost of investing for all investors’
Images Of Yen Currency Notes Inside the Korea Exchange Bank

Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

Having revolutionized the business of buying stocks, Vanguard Group is now coming for currencies.

The investing pioneer obsessed with lowering costs is testing a new way for asset managers to trade currencies and avoid big investment banks, according to a person familiar with the matter. The platform, based on the blockchain technology that powers Bitcoin, has been operational for two months and has handled some trades, said the person, asking not to be named because the project is private.