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Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETP Surges Past $100M
4 May
Summary
- Morgan Stanley's new Bitcoin ETP amassed over $100 million in less than a week.
- Self-directed accounts drove ETP's early success, highlighting advisor education gap.
- Federal Reserve policies and Basel frameworks impede direct bank bitcoin holdings.
Morgan Stanley's recently launched Bitcoin exchange-traded product, MSBT, has rapidly attracted over $100 million in capital within its first week. This impressive performance occurred exclusively through self-directed trading channels, prior to its availability via financial advisors.
Amy Oldenburg, leading digital asset strategy at Morgan Stanley, noted that client interest in cryptocurrencies is high, but a knowledge gap exists among financial advisors. To address this, the bank has initiated internal educational programs.
Despite the client demand and the success of products like MSBT, U.S. banks face substantial obstacles to holding Bitcoin directly. These include Federal Reserve policies, Basel capital frameworks, and the need for international regulatory consensus.
Morgan Stanley is pursuing an OCC digital trust charter to enable direct crypto custody and trading. Meanwhile, competitor BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF has already garnered over $61 billion since its launch in January 2024.
