Morgan Stanley, one of the largest and most important banks in the world, invested a whopping $188 million in BlackRock’s Bitcoin (BTC) spot Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) in the second quarter.
The news comes shortly after the financial giant began advising its brand-new Bitcoin funds to a select group of clients, and shows Morgan Stanley is making big moves in the Bitcoin space, which it has been involved in for years.
Morgan Stanley buys shares of BlackRock’s BTC fund
Earlier today, Bitcoin news reported that more than two-thirds of institutional Bitcoin ETF holders maintained or increased their positions in the second quarter. This data comes from the so-called 13F reporting that asset managers with more than $100 million in assets under management are required to file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) every quarter.
The 13F forms, in fact, list the securities held by institutions. Morgan Stanley’s filing showed that it held roughly $188 million worth of shares in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) as of June 30, the last day of the second quarter. That equates to a total of more than 5.5 million IBIT shares.
After the first quarter, Morgan Stanley also revealed involvement in the Bitcoin ETFs launched in January. The megabank had invested $269.9 million in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), as well as $2.3 million in the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB).
In the second quarter, Morgan Stanley significantly reduced its GBTC position. In fact, the recent filing shows that it had “only” $148,000 worth of GBTC shares.
Advising Bitcoin ETFs to Clients
Earlier this month, news broke that Morgan Stanley became one of the first Wall Street banks to embrace Bitcoin ETFs by allowing its financial advisors to offer the funds to certain clients.
Since last week, the 15,000 advisors have been allowed to offer shares of BlackRock and Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETFs to clients with a net worth of at least $1.5 million. Moreover, the investments are only available for taxable investment accounts and not for retirement accounts.
This strategic move by Morgan Stanley could not only lead to a major inflow of capital into the Bitcoin ETF market, but could also be the start of a broader trend where other major banks follow suit.
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Source: https://newsbit.nl/bankgigant-morgan-stanley-steekt-188-miljoen-in-bitcoin-etf/
