Share this article
Morgan Stanley Evaluating Spot Bitcoin ETFs for Its Giant Brokerage Platform: Sources
Since spot bitcoin ETFs went live in January, chatter has increased about the imminent arrival of the big registered investment advisor (RIA) networks and broker-dealer platforms.
Updated Mar 8, 2024, 10:21 p.m. Published Feb 28, 2024, 7:25 p.m.
- Morgan Stanley is deciding whether to offer spot bitcoin ETFs to customers of its large brokerage platform.
- The arrival of broker-dealers like Morgan Stanley as well as large registered investment advisor (RIA) networks could bring more investment into the new products.
Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley is in the midst of performing due diligence to add spot bitcoin ETF products to its brokerage platform, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
One of the people said Morgan Stanley, which is among the largest U.S. broker-dealer platforms, has been evaluating offering spot bitcoin ETFs to clients since the Securities and Exchange Commission approved their introduction in the U.S. in January.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Although billions of dollars have already been invested in these products, the investment floodgates might not open until the bitcoin ETFs are offered by big registered investment advisor (RIA) networks and broker-dealers platforms such as those attached to firms like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and others.
There are 10 spot bitcoin ETFs now trading in the U.S. The ones with the most assets are Grayscale's GBTC, BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC. It’s not clear which ones Morgan Stanley is looking to offer to its clients.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
Read more: UBS and Citi Will Let Some Customers Trade Bitcoin ETFs, Contrary to Rumors
Morgan Stanley, a leader in the alternative investments and private market space with over $150 billion in assets under management, was the first major U.S. bank to offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin funds in 2021. The bank confirmed during its first-quarter earnings call in April 2021 that it was offering its wealth management clients exposure to bitcoin via a pair of external crypto funds.
The wealth management firm’s former CFO, Jonathan Pruzan, said at the time that the bank was allowing qualified investors to gain access to two passive funds. It is understood that these funds were offered by Galaxy Digital and NYDIG.
“As we see more interest, we’ll work with regulators to provide services we think are appropriate,” Pruzan said three years ago.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Most Influential: Brandon and Howard Lutnick
The world's biggest stablecoin issuer struggled to maintain banking relationships for a few years and faced accusations it wasn't fully backing its circulating tokens — then one of the world's biggest financial firms, Cantor Fitzgerald, became its custodian.
Top Stories
