Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) purchased an additional 91.739 BTC for $7.34 million, according to data from Arkham Intelligence, increasing its total holdings to 2,922 BTC. The move comes as the bank builds a vertically integrated crypto offering in response to persistent, client-driven demand.
“Almost all of that first week or two of activity was self-directed. It was not our advisors that were selling this,” Amy Oldenburg, head of digital assets at Morgan Stanley, said at the Consensus conference, confirming the nature of the inflows.
The latest purchase brings the value of MSBT’s holdings to approximately $235 million. This is part of a larger $269.9 million position the bank holds in spot Bitcoin ETFs, with the majority in Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). This activity is occurring even as the bank’s 15,000-plus financial advisors are not yet cleared to proactively recommend these products, meaning every dollar of the more than $200 million that flowed into MSBT in its first few weeks was client-initiated.
This dynamic highlights the core of Wall Street's current crypto strategy: responding to a clear pull from clients rather than pushing a new product. The bank is not merely an issuer but is building a full crypto stack. It recently rolled out a crypto trading pilot on its E*Trade platform, with a 50 basis point fee designed to undercut pure-play exchanges like Coinbase and Robinhood. "In a way, the strategy is disintermediating the disintermediators," Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley's head of wealth management, told Bloomberg. The firm has also applied for a national trust bank charter to custody digital assets and has plans for Ether and Solana ETFs.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
