Morgan Stanley Targets Market-Low 0.14% Fee for Proposed Spot Bitcoin ETF

Morgan Stanley has amended its registration filing for a proposed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, setting a 0.14% management fee that would be the lowest in the market if approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The ETF, expected to trade under the ticker MSBT, would enter an estimated $85 billion to $92 billion U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market. Competing products include Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust at 0.15%, while BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund each charge 0.25%. Morgan Stanley, which reports $6.2 trillion in client assets and employs about 16,000 financial advisors, has accelerated its push into digital assets after previously taking a more cautious stance. The bank filed initial applications for a spot Bitcoin ETF and a spot Solana ETF on Jan. 6, 2026, followed soon after by a staked Ether ETF filing. It also named longtime executive Amy Oldenburg to lead its digital-asset strategy. In an amended S-1 filed on March 17, Morgan Stanley disclosed a $1 million seed investment and identified Coinbase and BNY Mellon as proposed custodians. About a week later, the New York Stock Exchange issued an official listing notice for the product, describing its launch as "imminent". Beyond the spot Bitcoin ETF, the bank applied in mid-February for a national trust banking charter aimed at offering crypto custody, trading and staking services. Morgan Stanley now recommends clients allocate 2% to 4% of portfolios to cryptocurrencies, including within IRAs and 401(k) plans. Large banks are expanding crypto and blockchain exposure through ETFs, tokenized fiat deposits and tokenized real-world assets, even as disputes persist with stablecoin issuers over yield-farming practices. JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs are among the firms pushing further into the sector, contributing to broader institutional acceptance of crypto in global finance.