Morgan Stanley’s reported IBIT holdings rose to 16.5 million shares in Q2, while Ether ETF positions and several crypto-linked stocks also increased. US investment banking giant Morgan Stanley reported larger crypto fund positions in the second quarter, led by an increase of more than 3 million shares in BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Morgan Stanley’s reported holdings in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) increased by 23% to around 16.5 million shares from 13.4 million, according to its Q2 13F filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. Morgan Stanley also reported 2.57 million shares of its own Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), worth about $43.3 million. The product began trading in April. Read more
The new exchange-traded products track Ether and Solana, offer staking rewards and follow the firm’s Bitcoin fund launched earlier this year. Morgan Stanley Investment Management has launched Ether and Solana exchange-traded products, expanding its fund lineup beyond Bitcoin. The Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (NYSE Arca: MSSE) and Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (NYSE Arca: MSOL) seek to track the performance of Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL), respectively, using the CoinDesk Ether Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement Rate and CoinDesk Solana Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement Rate. Both funds carry a 0.14% expense ratio and intend to stake a portion of their holdings, with staking rewards passed through to investors. Morgan Stanley said it will not retain any portion of the staking rewards earned by either fund. Read more
The new exchange-traded products track Ether and Solana, offer staking rewards and follow the firm’s Bitcoin fund launched earlier this year. Morgan Stanley Investment Management has launched Ether and Solana exchange-traded products, expanding its fund lineup beyond Bitcoin. The Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (NYSE Arca: MSSE) and Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (NYSE Arca: MSOL) seek to track the performance of Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL), respectively, using the CoinDesk Ether Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement Rate and CoinDesk Solana Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement Rate. Both funds carry a 0.14% expense ratio and intend to stake a portion of their holdings, with staking rewards passed through to investors. Morgan Stanley said it will not retain any portion of the staking rewards earned by either fund. Read more
Eligible E*TRADE retail clients can now buy, sell and hold Bitcoin, Ether and Solana through a partnership with crypto infrastructure provider Zero Hash. Morgan Stanley’s E*TRADE platform has launched spot cryptocurrency trading, allowing eligible clients to buy, sell and hold Bitcoin, Ether and Solana through a partnership with crypto infrastructure provider Zero Hash. Clients can view their crypto holdings alongside stocks and other traditional investments on the E*TRADE platform, while transfer functionality for moving digital assets on and off the platform is expected later this year. The self-directed channel served 8.6 million households and held about $1.56 trillion in client assets as of March 31, according to Morgan Stanley’s latest financial supplement. Read more
The Wall Street bank is charging 50 basis points per crypto trade, below basic retail pricing at Coinbase, Robinhood and Charles Schwab. Morgan Stanley has rolled out a cryptocurrency trading pilot on its E*Trade platform, charging lower basic retail fees than some of the largest US crypto and brokerage platforms. The Wall Street bank is charging clients 50 basis points on the dollar value of each crypto transaction, undercutting Coinbase, Robinhood and Charles Schwab on standard retail pricing, according to a Tuesday Bloomberg report. The offering is currently in pilot mode, with E*Trade’s 8.6 million clients expected to gain access later this year, Bloomberg reported. Read more
Stablecoin issuers must invest a minimum of $10 million into Morgan Stanley’s money market fund, MSNXX, to access the stablecoin reserve offering. Morgan Stanley’s investment management arm has launched “Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio,” an offering that allows stablecoin issuers to park the reserves backing their stablecoins in one of the bank's money market funds while earning interest. The offering is part of the Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds trust (MSNXX), which aims to preserve capital, provide daily liquidity and distribute income while maintaining a $1 net asset value, Morgan Stanley said on Thursday. “Developing innovative ways to work with stablecoin issuers is another step towards modernizing the financial infrastructure,” said Amy Oldenburg, head of Morgan Stanley’s digital asset strategy. The bank said the offering seeks to comply with the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), a framework that was signed into law in July, which led several T...
The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust is also within striking distance of overtaking three other US spot Bitcoin ETFs that launched in January 2024. Morgan Stanley’s new spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund has just surpassed the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (WBTC) in total net inflows, despite launching just over a week ago. The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) added $19.3 million of investor inflows on Wednesday, bringing its total net inflow to $103 million. The figure has now passed WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund’s (WBTC) total net inflow of $86 million, which it had been accumulating since launching in January 2024, Farside Investors data shows. Read more