Morgan Stanley is poised to shake up the spot bitcoin ETF market with a sharply lower fee structure, as new filing details show that the upcoming Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) will charge just 0.14% annually – undercutting every current US competitor.
The fees were disclosed in updated trust documents subscriber By Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg Analyst It comes in at 11 basis points below BlackRock’s flagship iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which is currently Fees About 0.25%.
Aggressive pricing positions MSBT as the cheapest bitcoin ETF on the market at launch, signaling a deliberate push to capture both in-house advisory flows and outside investors’ capital.
This step carries special weight in the interior Morgan Stanley ecosystem. With nearly $8 trillion in wealth management assets and a network of thousands of financial advisors, fee sensitivity has been one of the barriers to broader adoption of ETFs across advisory channels.
A low-cost in-house product could remove this friction, allowing advisors to allocate to Bitcoin without facing the struggles associated with recommending higher-fee third-party funds.
Industry observers say this dynamic could change flows significantly.
Vong Lee, CEO of Strategy, recently described the product as a potential catalyst for “Monster Bitcoin.” appreciation Even a modest 2% allocation via Morgan Stanley’s platform could translate into roughly $160 billion of demand.
This number would far exceed the size of any spot Bitcoin ETF, and underscores the importance of distribution, not just product design.
Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF is Coming
Up to the fee disclosure as MSBT is getting closer to launch. The fund has already received a listing notice from the New York Stock Exchange, a move widely seen as a signal that trading could begin soon pending final regulatory approval. If approved, the product would become the first bitcoin ETF to be issued directly by a major U.S. bank rather than an asset manager.
Structurally, MSBT mirrors existing spot Bitcoin ETFs. The trust will hold the bitcoins directly, with Coinbase acting as custodian and lead broker, while BNY Mellon will be the administration, transfer agency and custodian of the cash.
Since their debut in 2024, US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs have easily attracted more than $50 billion in inflows, driven largely by retail and self-directed investors. Adoption of wealth management platforms has been slower, often limited by internal policies, fee considerations, and portfolio construction guidelines.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading near $66,000.
