Morgan Stanley Files Second Amendment to Direct Spot Bitcoin ETF Product

BNY Mellon will handle custody and management of the cash, while Coinbase handles primary brokerage and custody of BTC.

Morgan Stanley filed a second amended S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch its Bitcoin spot ETF.

The update adds operational details and notes progress on the bank’s application, although approval is still uncertain.

Morgan Stanley Adds Structure to Bitcoin ETF Filing

In its presentation, the bank outlined plans an initial seed basket of 50,000 shares, which is expected to raise about $1 million. Earlier this month, the bank revealed that it had undertaken another routine step in preparing the ETF, purchasing a couple of shares in the fund for audit purposes.

In its previous amendment, the investment giant revealed that it had engaged BNY Mellon and Coinbase as key service providers, with the former acting as cash custodian, manager and transfer agent, while the latter will act as primary broker and custodian of the fund’s BTC holdings. Furthermore, the filing also confirmed that, if approved, the proposed BTC ETF will be listed on NYSE Arca, with MSBT as its symbol.

The financial institution submitted its BTC ETF application in January, along with filings for products linked to Solana (SOL). At the time, he stated that he had decided to embrace crypto assets due to increased regulatory clarity under the Trump administration. And although it has not yet disclosed its management fees, the Bitcoin spot ETF could go live in the coming weeks, thanks to the SEC’s generic listing standard.

If that were to happen, it would place Morgan Stanley among a growing list of issuers competing in the US Bitcoin ETF spot market, where products launched in January 2024 have attracted more than $56 billion in cumulative flows, according to data from SoSoValue.

Institutional Crypto Momentum Gains Momentum

Morgan Stanley’s foray into cryptocurrencies isn’t exactly new. It previously allowed certain brokerage clients access to digital asset trading, and Wall Street giant BlackRock’s recent ETF launches could show them what to expect.

You may also be interested in:

BlackRock has been in the crypto ETF space for a while now, but recently launched a staking Ethereum ETF that saw trading volume of over $15 million on its first day. While the figure seemed modest, especially compared to the company’s more established funds, it showed that there is still interest in new cryptocurrency investment structures.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin itself was trading around the $70,000 level at the time of writing, up less than 1% in the last 24 hours and down more than 2% in the last seven days. In the last month, the OG cryptocurrency added at least 4% to its value, although it is still almost 44% below its all-time high price recorded in October 2025, when it surpassed $126,000.