Morgan Stanley confirms 0.14% fee for spot Bitcoin ETF

U.S. investment bank (IB) Morgan Stanley has set the management fee for its in-house spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) at the lowest level in the market. The strategy is to leverage its dominant wealth management (WM) network with price competitiveness to reshape market share in the existing ETF landscape.

According to an amended registration statement (S-1) that Morgan Stanley filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the 27th (local time), the management fee for its spot Bitcoin ETF, “MSBT,” has been set at 0.14%. This is the lowest among currently available spot Bitcoin ETF products. It undercuts the previous low set by Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (0.15%) and is about half the 0.25% charged by market leaders BlackRock (IBIT) and Fidelity (FBTC).

Ahead of the product launch, Morgan Stanley has been fine-tuning its organization and operating framework. Starting with its applications for Bitcoin and Solana ETFs in January, it has strengthened its digital assets strategy division, and on the 17th it confirmed a $1 million seed investment and the ticker (MSBT). Coinbase and BNY Mellon were selected as custodians. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has already issued a listing notice.

In particular, Morgan Stanley is officially recommending that clients allocate 2–4% of their overall investment portfolios to cryptoassets. This includes individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) accounts. The firm’s 16,000 financial advisors and $6.2 trillion in assets under management are expected to be key sources of demand.