Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF rakes in $100m as Wall Street follows suit: ‘Excellent number’

Morgan Stanley’s new Bitcoin exchange-traded fund raked in $100 million in its first six days of trading.

That’s a solid debut for the first Wall Street bank to offer an in-house Bitcoin product, and it comes just as Goldman Sachs and Charles Schwab prepare to offer their own branded crypto products.

“​​It’s an excellent number,” Ric Edelman, renowned financial adviser, told DL News. “It shows the high demand among investors and advisors alike, and will spur all the other wirehouses to do likewise.”

Morgan Stanley’s move — combined with Goldman Sachs and Charles Schwab preparing their own crypto products — marks a turning point for an industry that staunchly turned Bitcoin and its ilk away in the past.

Now the largest banks on Wall Street are racing to keep the clients that are interested in crypto under one roof, instead of ceding their assets and millions in management fees to BlackRock or another of the 10 existing ETF providers.

Morgan Stanley manages around $6.2 trillion across 16,000 financial advisers.

Wall Street awakens

Many banks are likely watching Morgan Stanley to see how it fares.

But some aren’t staying put. Goldman Sachs announced this week that it was also launching its own in-house Bitcoin ETF. Charles Schwab announced today that it would begin offering crypto trading to its customers.

Together, they manage over $15 trillion in assets.

Indeed, the Wall Street banking Bitcoin land grab is in full force.

Wall Street’s Bitcoin ETFs have absorbed more than 1.6 million coins since launching in January 2024. Even as war broke out in the Middle East multiple times, Bitcoin ETF investors continued adding to their positions.

They have piled around $2.1 billion into Bitcoin ETFs since the start of the year, according to DefiLlama data.

Starting to spin

Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF is on pace for a blockbuster debut, Edelman recently told DL News. 

At its current rate of accumulation, the new ETF will bring in more than $7 billion in its first year, which would eclipse many of the already-existing ETFs like VanEck and Franklin Templeton.

“The flywheel is just starting to spin,” Edelman previously told DL News.

Pedro Solimano is a markets correspondent based in Buenos Aires. Got a tip? Email him at psolimano@dlnews.com.