This isn't a crypto startup making noise. This is a $9.3 trillion bank putting Bitcoin on the menu.
Morgan Stanley launched MSBT - the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust - on the NYSE on Wednesday. It's the first real Bitcoin ETF from a big U.S. bank. And it's priced to take market share.
MSBT charges 0.14% per year. BlackRock's IBIT fund - the top Bitcoin ETF with about $55 billion - charges 0.25%. That's a 44% fee cut from Morgan Stanley on day one.
Coinbase handles the Bitcoin custody through cold storage. BNY Mellon manages cash and administration. The fund tracks the CoinDesk Bitcoin Benchmark.
Morgan Stanley has about 16,000 wealth helpers. Since 2024, they can tell clients about third-party Bitcoin ETFs. Now they can pick one that keeps fees inside the firm.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart said the launch "will impact things" but noted that IBIT's trading volume and options market dominance will be hard to match.
MSBT is just the start. Morgan Stanley filed plans for both an Ethereum trust and a Solana trust in Jan. In Feb, it asked for a bank charter for digital asset care and staking.
The bank also plans to start retail crypto trade on E-Trade in the first half of this year.
When a bank this size moves into crypto, it's not a test. It's a strategy.
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