Key takeaways
- Morgan Stanley’s holdings in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF are $187 million.
- The company has allowed its advisors to offer spot Bitcoin ETFs to certain clients.
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According to a recent 13F filing shared by MacroScope, Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley held approximately $187 million worth of shares in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) as of June 30. That amount is equivalent to more than 5.5 million IBIT shares.
The investment positions the bank alongside other major IBIT shareholders such as Millennium Management, Capula Management and Goldman Sachs, which recently unveiled a $400 million investment in U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including approximately $238 million in IBIT.
Earlier this month, Morgan Stanley announced that it would allow its 15,000 financial advisors to recommend spot Bitcoin ETFs to select high-net-worth clients starting August 7. The two products are BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC).
John Reed Stark, a former SEC official and notorious cryptocurrency skeptic, has expressed concerns about the compliance issues the move could bring.
“By unleashing its legion of 15,000 brokers to promote Bitcoin, Morgan Stanley has just voluntarily submitted itself to what will likely become the largest SEC and FINRA scrutiny in history,” Stark said.
He also warned: “Identifying violations would be like shooting fish in a barrel.”
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