Bitcoin News: Morgan Stanley Just Launched the Cheapest Bitcoin ETF on the Market
Morgan Stanley once called Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) worthless. In 2017, the bank’s analysts published a research note arguing that Bitcoin’s true value could be zero. Nine years later, Morgan Stanley has launched its own spot Bitcoin ETF, making it the…
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Morgan Stanley once called Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) worthless. In 2017, the bank’s analysts published a research note arguing that Bitcoin’s true value could be zero. Nine years later, Morgan Stanley has launched its own spot Bitcoin ETF, making it the first major U.S. bank to issue one under its own name.
The fund trades under the ticker MSBT and charges 0.14% per year, which is less than any other spot Bitcoin ETF on the market, including BlackRock’s IBIT at 0.25%. Morgan Stanley also has around 16,000 financial advisors who can now direct clients straight into MSBT when they want Bitcoin exposure. Its distribution network is what makes this launch different from every other Bitcoin ETF that came before it.
MSBT Off to a Strong Start With $34 Million on Day One
Morgan Stanley’s MSBT pulled in around $34 million in net inflows on its first day of trading, with over 1.6 million shares changing hands. The fund purchased 430 BTC on day one, and Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the debut put MSBT in the top 1% of all ETF launches over the past year. Most new ETFs average $1 million or less on their first day, so $34 million is a strong opening for a product entering a market that BlackRock has dominated since early 2024.
Bitcoin ETFs had just posted their first positive monthly inflows of 2026 in March, pulling in $1.32 billion after four straight months of outflows. The turnaround gave MSBT a tailwind on launch day, and its 0.14% fee makes it cheaper than every other spot Bitcoin ETF available right now.
| Bitcoin ETF | Ticker | Annual Fee |
| Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust | MSBT | 0.14% |
| Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust | BTC | 0.15% |
| Bitwise Bitcoin ETF | BITB | 0.20% |
| ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF | ARKB | 0.21% |
| BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust | IBIT | 0.25% |
| Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund | FBTC | 0.25% |
For most people buying Bitcoin through a brokerage, the fee difference between MSBT and IBIT is barely noticeable. On a $10,000 position, for example, it works out to about $11 per year. But for wealth management clients allocating six or seven figures, those savings add up over time.
Morgan Stanley’s 16,000 Advisors Are the Real Advantage
Up until now, every spot Bitcoin ETF came from an asset manager like BlackRock, Fidelity, or ARK. Morgan Stanley is a bank with around 16,000 financial advisors who manage money for clients directly. Those advisors have been recommending Bitcoin ETFs to clients since 2024, but the money was going to BlackRock or Fidelity. With MSBT, the management fee stays at Morgan Stanley.
When a Morgan Stanley advisor tells a client to put 2% to 4% of their portfolio into Bitcoin, which is what the firm has been recommending, they are now going to point them toward MSBT first. The client doesn’t go shopping for the cheapest Bitcoin ETF on a comparison site—they’ll most likely take their advisor’s recommendation and move on. BlackRock doesn’t have direct access to clients like that, and that is what makes MSBT a real competitor even with a fraction of IBIT’s assets.
The bank also filed for Ethereum and Solana trusts in January 2026, and it plans to launch retail crypto trading on E*Trade in the first half of this year. MSBT looks like the first piece of a much bigger push into crypto from one of the largest banks on Wall Street.
Should You Switch to MSBT or Stick with IBIT?
If you already hold IBIT, there’s no rush to switch. BlackRock’s fund has over $53 billion in assets and processes $16 to $18 billion in daily trading volume. You get better prices when you buy and sell with IBIT, and MSBT is months or years away from matching that. So for self-directed investors who trade through Schwab, Fidelity, or Robinhood, IBIT is still the better option right now.
However, if you’re a Morgan Stanley wealth management client or you’re just getting into Bitcoin for the first time, MSBT is the smarter starting point. The fee is lower, it sits inside your existing advisory relationship, and Morgan Stanley clearly isn’t treating crypto as a side project.
In fact, the fee war isn’t really what matters most here. A bank that once called Bitcoin worthless is now building an entire crypto business around it. That tells you more about where Bitcoin is heading than any fee comparison ever could.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst and the editor of 24/7 Wall St.'s Crypto Desk, where he covers Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, Solana and the altcoins investors search for most. His work focuses on price levels, spot ETF flows, on-chain data and the regulatory decisions that move crypto markets, written so a first-time buyer and a seasoned trader can both use it.
Sam has written about crypto professionally since 2019 and has published more than 2,000 articles. Before joining 24/7 Wall St., he wrote for crypto media outlets and Web3 companies and ghostwrote for crypto founders and token launches. His analysis is syndicated on Yahoo Finance, MSN and AOL and has been cited by other crypto news sites. He also founded MacLabs Marketing, a content and personal branding agency for crypto founders and executives.
When he isn't reading charts, Sam is usually at the gym or watching One Piece, a series he maintains has better tokenomics than most altcoins.
