Morgan Stanley is poised to shake up the spot Bitcoin ETF market with a significantly lower fee structure, with new filing details showing that its upcoming Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) will charge just 0.14% annually, below all existing U.S. competitors.
The fees, revealed in the latest trust documents shared by Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, are 11 basis points below BlackRock’s flagship iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which currently stands at about 0.25%.
Aggressive pricing positions MSBT as the cheapest spot Bitcoin ETF on the market at the time of launch, indicating a deliberate push to attract both internal advisory flow and external investor capital.
The move has particular significance within Morgan Stanley’s own ecosystem. With approximately $8 trillion in assets under management and a network of thousands of financial advisors, fee sensitivity is one of the barriers to broader adoption of ETFs across the advisory channel.
A low-cost in-house product would remove that friction and allow advisors to allocate funds to Bitcoin without facing the inconsistencies associated with recommending high-fee third-party funds.
Industry observers say this dynamic could significantly change flows.
Strategy CEO Phong Le recently described the product as a potential “monster Bitcoin” catalyst, estimating that just 2% allocation across Morgan Stanley’s platform could lead to around $160 billion in demand.
This number far exceeds the scale of existing Bitcoin spot ETFs, highlighting the importance of distribution as well as product design.
Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF launched
As the launch of MSBT approaches, the fee disclosure has been made. The fund has already received a listing notice from the New York Stock Exchange, which is widely seen as an indication that trading could begin soon, pending final regulatory approval. If approved, the product would be the first spot Bitcoin ETF issued directly by a major U.S. bank rather than an asset manager.
Structurally, MSBT mirrors the existing Spot Bitcoin ETF. The trust will hold Bitcoin directly, with Coinbase acting as custodian and prime broker, and BNY Mellon handling administration, transfer agent, and cash custody.
Since its debut in 2024, the US-listed Spot Bitcoin ETF has attracted well over $50 billion in inflows, driven primarily by retail and self-directed investors. Adoption within asset management platforms has been slow and is often constrained by internal policies, fee considerations, and portfolio construction guidelines.
At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is trading near $66,000.
