said<\/a> the debut ranked among the top 1% of ETF launches.<\/p>\nWithin six trading sessions, the fund had crossed $103 million in cumulative inflows, overtaking WisdomTree\u2019s BTCW, which has operated since January 2024 and has gathered roughly $86 million in total net inflows over its lifetime.<\/p>\n
Low fee strategy gains traction<\/h2>\n
MSBT entered the market with a 0.14% sponsor fee, the lowest among all U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs. Grayscale\u2019s Bitcoin Mini Trust charges 0.15%, Bitwise\u2019s BITB charges 0.20%, ARKB charges 0.21%, while both IBIT and FBTC sit at 0.25%. Grayscale\u2019s legacy GBTC fund still carries a 1.50% fee.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The pricing difference appears marginal for smaller investors but scales quickly for institutions, with an 11 basis point gap between MSBT and IBIT translating to roughly $1.1 million annually on a $1 billion allocation.<\/p>\n
Trading activity also pointed to sustained demand pressure. SoSoValue data showed MSBT traded at a 0.24% premium to net asset value on May 7, above IBIT\u2019s 0.18% and FBTC\u2019s 0.13%.<\/p>\n
Morgan Stanley\u2019s crypto expansion has extended beyond ETFs. As crypto.news previously reported, the bank launched a pilot crypto trading service on ETrade on May 6 with a flat 0.5% transaction fee for bitcoin, ether, and solana trades executed through Zerohash infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bloomberg reported that Morgan Stanley is below Coinbase, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab on retail crypto trading costs.<\/p>\n
Eric Balchunas said competitors were unlikely to leave the pricing unchanged and compared the situation to the fee compression battle that followed the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs.<\/p>\n
Advisors yet to fully enter<\/h2>\n
Almost all early inflows into MSBT came from self-directed investors rather than Morgan Stanley\u2019s advisory network.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost all of that first week or two of activity was self-directed, meaning it was not our advisors that were selling this,\u201d Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley\u2019s head of digital assets, said at the Consensus conference in Miami.<\/p>\n
Morgan Stanley oversees roughly $9.3 trillion in client assets through roughly 16,000 financial advisors, although the bank had not yet opened MSBT access across its wealth management platform during the fund\u2019s first weeks.<\/p>\n
Once integrated into that channel, the ETF would gain access to one of the largest distribution systems tied to a U.S. financial institution. Morgan Stanley is also developing a proprietary digital wallet expected later in 2026 that would hold cryptocurrencies alongside tokenized stocks, bonds, and real estate assets.<\/p>\n
MSBT\u2019s first month coincided with renewed demand across the U.S. spot bitcoin ETF sector. SoSoValue data showed the 13-spot bitcoin funds attracted more than $3 billion across six straight weeks through May 8, the longest positive streak since mid-2025. Total assets across the category reached $106.6 billion, equal to 6.67% of bitcoin\u2019s market capitalization, while cumulative inflows since launch climbed to $59.3 billion.<\/p>\n
Balchunas projected MSBT could eventually reach $5 billion in assets under management during its first year, though he indicated advisor-driven flows would likely need to accelerate for the fund to maintain its current pace.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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