Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF Surpasses $34 Million on First Day..."Move Over, BlackRock"

▲ Bitcoin (BTC), Morgan Stanley/ChatGPT generated image

The Bitcoin (BTC) spot ETF directly launched by Morgan Stanley successfully settled into the market, recording a trading volume of $34 million on its first day of trading.

CryptoPotato, a specialized virtual asset media outlet, reported on April 9 (local time) that the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) processed approximately $34 million in transactions on its first day of listing on NYSE Arca. This figure surpasses the $30 million anticipated by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts. With this launch, Morgan Stanley has become the first major U.S. bank to operate its own Bitcoin spot ETF.

MSBT recorded a net inflow of $30.6 million on its launch day. As of April 8, the fund holds 444.4 BTC, worth approximately $31.7 million. Notably, Morgan Stanley has set an exceptionally low management fee of 0.14% to capture market share. This is the lowest among Bitcoin spot ETFs currently available in the U.S. market, 0.11 percentage points lower than the 0.25% charged by current leader BlackRock.

Industry experts have assessed that Morgan Stanley's entry into the market has opened a new chapter for the institutionalization of virtual assets. Morgan Stanley possesses approximately $1.9 trillion in assets under management and a network of 16,000 financial advisors. Analysts suggest that through this powerful distribution channel, significant capital from traditional investors who have hesitated to invest in virtual assets could flow in.

However, the overall market trend showed mixed signals. On the day MSBT launched, a net outflow of approximately $124.5 million occurred across all Bitcoin spot ETFs in the U.S. On the same day, BlackRock recorded a net inflow of $40 million, maintaining its position as the market share leader. While MSBT's first-day trading volume is relatively low compared to BlackRock or Grayscale, which recorded billions of dollars upon their launch in January 2024, it ranks in the top 1% of ETFs launched within the last year.

Starting with the launch of MSBT, Morgan Stanley is expanding its business into the broader digital asset ecosystem. The company has undertaken organizational restructuring, including appointing dedicated leadership, to strengthen its institutional-grade capabilities across the entire process, from custody and trading to product development. Investors are closely watching whether Morgan Stanley's fee reduction policy will trigger a chain reaction of fee competition among other issuers.

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