Morgan Stanley Launches Low Cost Bitcoin ETF

Morgan Stanley has gone straight at the fee battle. Instead of entering the spot Bitcoin ETF market with a standard price, the firm launched Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust at a 0.14% sponsor fee, below the 0.25% fee charged by BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust. Morgan Stanley said that rate is currently the lowest bitcoin ETP sponsor fee at launch.

Good to Know

• MSBT began trading on NYSE Arca on April 8.
• Morgan Stanley said MSBT carries a 0.14% sponsor fee.
• Morgan Stanley reported $9.3 trillion in client assets across Wealth and Investment Management at the end of 2025.

Morgan Stanley Opens With Price Pressure

The launch says a lot about where the real fight is now. Access to Bitcoin through an exchange traded product is no longer new on Wall Street, so price and distribution matter more. Morgan Stanley now has both: a lower fee and a wealth machine with trillions in client assets behind it.

Allyson Wallace framed demand in simple terms saying:  “We really wanted to show our commitment by having that lower fee. The demand, especially from the high-net-worth investors, has been quite high. Viewed at the firm level, this is an asset class that is not going away.” Bloomberg reported those remarks as the product came to market.

Morgan Stanley described MSBT as an exchange-traded product that seeks to track bitcoin and said it is the first U.S. bank-affiliated asset manager to offer a cryptocurrency ETP. The product trades under ticker MSBT on NYSE Arca.

The structure also gives a clue about the audience. Morgan Stanley is leaning on familiar market plumbing rather than a crypto-native pitch alone. The firm said Coinbase and BNY will provide custody services, with BNY also handling administration, transfer agency, accounting, recordkeeping, and cash management.

BlackRock still holds the bigger position in the market, but Morgan Stanley is trying to chip away at that lead with cost. IBIT lists a 0.25% expense ratio on BlackRock site, so MSBT comes in 11 basis points lower.

There is still a clear tradeoff, though. Morgan Stanley says an investment in MSBT is not a direct investment in bitcoin, and the fund is not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The firm also warns that digital assets remain highly volatile and that investors can lose all or substantially all of their value.