Morgan Stanley’s long-awaited Bitcoin fund, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), has taken a major procedural step toward trading after the New York Stock Exchange confirmed the product’s official listing notice.
Bloomberg ETF Senior Analyst Eric Balchunas says the list generally indicates that the launch is “imminent.”
If approved by regulators, MSBT will mark the first Bitcoin ETF issued directly by a US central bank instead of an asset manager. Existing US ETFs have been launched by firms such as BlackRock and Fidelity.
Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division oversees one of the largest financial advisor networks in the industry, with approximately 16,000 advisors and billions in client assets under management.
That distribution reach would make MSBT an important channel for Bitcoin exposure in traditional portfolios.
The ETF’s fee structure has not been disclosed. The leading US Bitcoin ETF from BlackRock, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), currently charges a management fee of around 0.25%, with other issuers ranging from 0.20% to 0.30% annually.
Morgan Stanley’s bitcoin is on the move
Last week, Morgan Stanley confirmed that its proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund would trade under the ticker MSBT on the NYSE Arca, according to an updated filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Entering information on the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, an investment vehicle designed to track the price of bitcoin through direct holdings. Shares will reflect the amount of bitcoin held in the stock, allowing investors to gain exposure through trading accounts without owning the cryptocurrency directly.
Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit on Tuesday, Amy Oldenburg, Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Morgan Stanley said Wall Street’s foray into digital assets reflects a long-term effort to modernize the financial infrastructure.
“We have been on a journey to improve the financial infrastructure for years,” he said, dismissing the idea that banks are working because they are afraid of losing money.
The trust plans to invest 50,000 shares in the fund, which is expected to raise about $1 million in initial funding.
The Coinbase Custody Trust Company will act as the primary custodian of bitcoin, holding multiple assets in cold storage and directing transfers tied to the creation of shares and redemptions.
BNY Mellon will handle administration, transfer agent duties, and custodianship, manage accounting, shareholder records, and fund operations of the trust.
The structure reflects the models used everywhere in the bitcoin ETF market, with the holding part moving to trading wallets during the execution of dividends or redemptions, when authorized participants exchange cash for bitcoin or redeem shares of the underlying asset.
The filing notes that deposit insurance exists but is shared across multiple clients and may not cover all losses, a common disclosure among ETFs available for bitcoins.
