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Morgan Stanley has disclosed U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) holdings valued at over $270 million in its latest quarterly 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The investment bank holds $269.9 million worth of Grayscale’s converted spot bitcoin ETF, making it the third-largest holder of GBTC shares, behind Susquehanna and Horizon Kinetics, according to Fintel data. Additionally, Morgan Stanley has a $2.3 million allocation to Ark Invest’s spot bitcoin ETF, ranking it among the top 20 ARKB holders.
13F filings, required quarterly for institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in equity assets, provide insight into their stock holdings at the end of each quarter. These reports only disclose long positions in U.S. equities and options, not short positions, offering a partial view of an investment manager’s overall strategy.
In a January note, Morgan Stanley’s Head of Digital Asset Markets, Andrew Peel, highlighted the U.S. spot bitcoin ETF launch as a “potential paradigm shift” in digital asset perception and use. Following this, a Morgan Stanley fund indicated in February that it might gain exposure to spot bitcoin ETFs. Last month, the firm set risk management requirements to potentially allow its brokers to recommend these ETFs to clients.
This disclosure underscores the growing institutional interest in spot bitcoin ETFs, with Morgan Stanley among hundreds of investors declaring such holdings in their recent 13F filings.
