Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF, called MSBT, began trading on the NYSE Arca exchange with an initial investment of $1 million and uses Coinbase for secure storage. Its fee of 0.14% is lower than BlackRock’s.
As a crypto investor, I’m really watching this – Morgan Stanley just officially jumped into the spot Bitcoin ETF game! They’ve launched the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (ticker: MSBT) on the NYSE, and it sounds like it’s going to start trading very soon. According to Eric Balchunas at Bloomberg, who follows these things closely, this listing announcement usually means a launch is right around the corner, which is great news for those of us in the space.
The fund is launching with 50,000 shares, which is expected to raise around $1 million based on an initial price of $20 per share, according to recent filings. While not a huge amount of capital, it’s enough to get things started.
Coinbase Holds the Keys, BNY Runs the Books
Coinbase Custody Trust Company will securely store the Bitcoin offline, keeping the private keys completely disconnected from the internet. This custody arrangement between Coinbase and BNY Mellon was detailed in a previous filing by Morgan Stanley. BNY Mellon will manage the remaining services, including holding cash, administering the fund, and handling transfers.
This trust directly holds Bitcoin, without using borrowed money or complex financial instruments. It’s a simple, passive investment that aims to match the performance of a specific Bitcoin price benchmark, the CoinDesk Bitcoin Benchmark 4 PM NY Settlement Rate, rather than trying to beat the market.
Morgan Stanley announced a yearly fee of 0.14% for its sponsored services. This is lower than the fees charged by BlackRock’s IBIT (0.25%) and Grayscale (0.15%).
What the January Filing Set in Motion
According to a press release from Morgan Stanley, MSIM initially submitted registration documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 6, 2026. These documents were for both a Bitcoin Trust and a Solana Trust, which are investment products designed to follow the price movements of their respective cryptocurrencies. Sales of these securities were dependent on the SEC approving the registration statements.
The initial filing has been updated several times since it was first submitted. By mid-March, the second revision confirmed that MSBT would be the stock ticker and the shares would be listed on the NYSE Arca exchange. The minimum purchase size was set at 10,000 shares. According to FinTech Weekly, Morgan Stanley bought two shares on March 9th to verify the process.
Previous official documents didn’t mention any management fees. According to Crypto Briefing, the 0.14% fee was only revealed in the final prospectus just before the product launched.
A Bank, Not a Fund Company, Launching This
This is an important difference. Morgan Stanley is among the first large U.S. banks to launch its own Bitcoin ETF that clients can buy directly, instead of having them use ETFs from companies like BlackRock or Fidelity. Before this, Morgan Stanley advisors were offering those other companies’ ETFs. Now, Morgan Stanley will keep the fees for managing the ETF itself.
Bryan Armour, an ETF analyst at Morningstar, highlighted the importance of these filings when they became public. According to LiveBitcoinNews, Armour explained that a traditional bank entering the crypto ETF market lends credibility to the space, and we might see others do the same.
The creation and redemption process allows institutional investors to use either cash or assets when trading. This gives them flexibility in managing their investments.
According to Eric Balchunas on X (formerly Twitter), the NYSE’s official notice about MSBT being listed on March 25, 2026 is what the market needed to move forward.
0.14% Fee and What It Does to the Competition
The small 0.14% fee isn’t just a gesture – it’s designed to challenge the leading Bitcoin ETF providers. Since launching in 2024, BlackRock’s IBIT has attracted the most investment of any Bitcoin ETF. While Grayscale’s GBTC still has higher fees, Morgan Stanley has priced its ETF lower than both.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart previously predicted the product would be available in early April 2026, according to LiveBitcoinNews, and it now appears that estimate was correct.
Alongside this development, Wall Street is increasingly involved in crypto. Citigroup is establishing services to securely hold Bitcoin for institutions, while UBS and Charles Schwab are getting ready to let everyday investors trade cryptocurrencies. Even Morgan Stanley is offering direct crypto trading through its E*Trade platform, with Zerohash providing the necessary technology.
MSBT is part of a bigger trend in the financial world. It doesn’t have to be more popular than IBIT to be successful. Simply offering a competitively priced product, supported by a well-known and trusted bank, is enough.
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2026-04-08 14:22