Morgan Stanley is about to launch a Bitcoin ETF ‘fee war’ with BlackRock, says analyst

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) could withstand a renewed fee war by the recently launched Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust ETP (MSBT), according to ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

As MSBT enters its second day of trading on April 9, Balchunas sees near zero possibility that IBIT could cut its management fees to remain competitive. Moreover, BlackRock has a liquidity monopoly, currently reporting more than $11 trillion in assets under management (AUM), compared to Morgan Stanley, which controls about $1.9 trillion in AUM from its $9.3 trillion in wealth management.

At press time, BlackRock’s IBIT had a total operating fee of 0.25%,  as per official data, while Morgan Stanley’s clients paid a net expense of 0.14%. In terms of scale, IBIT had about $55.89 billion in net assets and a reported 30-day average volume of $50.46 million. By comparison, MSBT held approximately 444.4 Bitcoin, valued at around $31.6 million.

BlackRock’s IBIT dominates Bitcoin ETFs in 2026 amid renewed competition

BlackRock’s IBIT has dominated the global spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) industry. At the time of reporting, IBIT controlled about 60.82% of the $91.90 billion in total assets for the United States BTC ETFs.

For comparison, IBIT posted more than $292 million in trading volume within 20 minutes of its launch in February 2024. In contrast, MSBT recorded approximately $27 million in traded volume during its debut day over approximately 12 hours.

​As Finbold reported, BlackRock’s IBIT accumulated an additional 14,950 BTC during the first quarter of 2026, thereby lifting its holdings from approximately 770,290 BTC to 785,240 coins, thus an 1.94% increase.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ While IBIT’s Bitcoin holdings grew, its dollar-denominated AUM fell from $68.05 billion to $51.81 billion during the quarter, a $16.24 billion decline driven primarily by Bitcoin’s price depreciation over the period, rather than by net outflows from the fund.