Morgan Stanley is seeking to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund with a fee of 0.14%, which would make it the least expensive such product in the United States. The proposed fee, outlined in the bank’s latest S-1 registration statement filed on Friday, sits one basis point below the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF and 11 basis points below the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF issued by BlackRock. If approved, the fund would be listed under the ticker MSBT, or the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart described the move as significant, stating that Morgan Stanley is “not messing around,” and predicted the fund is “likely to launch in early April.” Fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that the low fee removes any potential conflict of interest for the bank’s roughly 16,000 financial advisors, who collectively manage $6.2 trillion in client assets. Balchunas described Morgan Stanley as “the ultimate gatekeepers of rich boomer money,” underscoring the scale of the client base the fund could reach.
Because spot Bitcoin ETFs track the price movements of Bitcoin, Morgan Stanley’s proposed fee structure could ignite a fresh pricing competition across the $83 billion market. Rivals may face pressure to reduce their own fees or risk losing assets to the lower-cost alternative. Regulatory approval would also make Morgan Stanley the first bank to issue a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States, broadening access to Bitcoin exposure for millions of high-net-worth clients.
Morgan Stanley previously named Coinbase and Bank of New York Mellon as the proposed custodians for the fund. The bank, which had previously been regarded as one of the more cautious Wall Street institutions on cryptocurrency, filed for the spot Bitcoin ETF during the first week of January, alongside an application for a Solana ETF. Later that same week, it filed paperwork for a staked Ether ETF as well.
By the end of January, Morgan Stanley appointed Amy Oldenburg, one of its longest-serving executives, to lead its digital asset team. The bank also applied for a national trust banking charter on February 18, seeking authorization to custody certain digital assets and to execute purchases, sales, and swaps for clients, along with staking services. These steps reflect a broader institutional shift in the bank’s approach to digital assets.
Prior to adopting its current institutional crypto strategy, Morgan Stanley had recommended that investors allocate between 2% and 4% of their portfolios to cryptocurrency. The bank had also permitted its financial advisors to suggest crypto funds to clients holding individual retirement accounts and 401(k)s. The latest moves represent a notable acceleration of the firm’s engagement with the digital asset space.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
