Morgan Stanley’s long-awaited Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), has taken a major step toward trading after the New York Stock Exchange confirmed that the transaction will be sold.
Bloomberg ETF chief analyst Eric Balchunas he says the schedule usually indicates that the launch is “imminent.”
If approved by regulators, MSBT will be the first Bitcoin ETF offered directly by a major US bank rather than an asset manager. Current shares of US Bitcoin ETFs have been established by companies such as BlackRock and Fidelity.
Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division manages one of the largest networks of financial advisors in the industry, with approximately 16,000 advisors and billions in client assets under management.
That access could make MSBT a valuable way to represent Bitcoin in traditional systems.
Funds for ETFs have yet to be announced. The most popular US-based Bitcoin ETF from BlackRock, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), currently charges around 0.25% interest, with other providers ranging from 0.20% to 0.30% per year.
Morgan Stanley’s bitcoin is on the move
Last week, Morgan Stanley it has been confirmed that wants to place a bitcoin exchange fund trading will be trading under the ticker MSBT on the NYSE Arca, according to a filing updated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Details of the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, an investment vehicle designed to monitor the value of bitcoin through direct investment. Shares will reflect the value of bitcoin in custody, allowing investors to gain exposure through an exchange account without owning the cryptocurrency directly.
Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit on Tuesday, Amy Oldenburg, Director of Digital Asset Strategy at Morgan Stanley. he said that Wall Street’s move into the digital economy reflects a long-term effort to restructure the financial infrastructure.
“We have been on a journey around the world of modern financial infrastructure for years,” he said, rejecting the idea that banks are acting out of fear of missing out.
The Trust is planning to seed the fund with 50,000 shares, which is expected to raise about $1 million in initial funding.
The company Coinbase Custody Trust will be the main custodian of bitcoin, holding most of the assets in cold storage and managing transfers connected to the shared environment and redemption.
BNY Mellon will oversee the administration of the transaction.
This structure has examples that are used in the bitcoin ETF market, with a part of the money moving to trading wallets during the exchange or exchange, authorized people exchange money with bitcoin or buy shares of the underlying assets.
The filings show that custodial insurance exists but is distributed among multiple clients and may not cover all losses, a standard disclosure among bitcoin ETFs.
