Key Takeaways
- Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin Trust is scheduled to launch on NYSE Arca on Wednesday, April 8, under the ticker MSBT, according to an NYSE Arca new listing notice.
- The trust’s latest SEC filing says it is designed to track Bitcoin’s price and lists a 0.14% annualized delegated sponsor fee.
- Morgan Stanley Investment Management said in January that it had filed registration statements for both the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust.
Morgan Stanley is set to launch its Bitcoin fund on Wednesday, with an NYSE Arca new listing notice dated April 7 stating that the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust will begin trading under the ticker MSBT.
The launch welcomes another major Wall Street name to the market for regulated Bitcoin exposure.
Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF
Morgan Stanley’s amended S-1, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27, says the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) whose shares are anticipated to be listed on NYSE Arca.
The filing says the trust is a passive investment vehicle that seeks to track the performance of bitcoin using the CoinDesk Bitcoin Benchmark 4 PM NY Settlement Rate.
It also says the trust will charge a 0.14% annualized delegated sponsor fee. It states that The Bank of New York Mellon and Coinbase Custody Trust Company will serve as the trust’s bitcoin custodians and hold the fund’s bitcoin on its behalf.
The prospectus says the proposed public sale would begin “as soon as practicable after the effective date” of the registration statement. It also says the trust expects to buy bitcoin ahead of listing using proceeds from its initial seed creation baskets.
January Filing Set the Stage
Morgan Stanley Investment Management said on Jan. 6 that it had filed SEC registration statements for two crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs): the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust.
Both were presented as passive funds designed to track the price of the underlying digital asset, pending regulatory approval.
The filing showed that Morgan Stanley was preparing a broader crypto product push rather than testing a single standalone launch.
By putting both Bitcoin and Solana vehicles into registration at the same time, the firm signaled that digital assets were becoming part of its formal product pipeline for listed investment offerings.
That move also placed Morgan Stanley within a larger shift across traditional finance, where major institutions have been expanding crypto access through ETPs, custody arrangements, and brokerage distribution.
The latest Bitcoin Trust launch notice shows that the process is moving from regulatory preparation to market rollout.
Wall Street Crypto Access Broadens
Other major financial platforms are also expanding crypto access. Charles Schwab says “Schwab Crypto is coming soon” and invites users to sign up for updates and early access to a Schwab Crypto account offered by Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB.
Schwab says that the account is a gateway to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The launch also arrives in a market reshaped by the SEC’s January 2024 approval of spot Bitcoin ETPs.
On Jan. 10, 2024, the Commission said it had approved the listing and trading of a number of spot bitcoin ETP shares.
A proposed 0.14% fee gives the fund a low-cost profile as asset managers compete for a share in the US spot Bitcoin segment.
What Launch Day Adds
The NYSE Arca listing notice gives the filing a concrete trading date.
With the product set to trade as MSBT, Morgan Stanley moves from registration into live market distribution.
The launch gives investors another listed path to Bitcoin exposure through a familiar exchange and fund wrapper.
PhD, researcher and writer exploring AI, blockchain, and the philosophy of tech, with a focus on DeScAI, governance, and trust.
