Bitcoin ETF's first week attracted $100 million! Morgan Stanley executive: Cryptocurrency has entered the company's core

Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) with a 0.14% all-market lowest fee rate, achieved over $100 million in net inflows in its first week of listing, setting a record for the firm’s ETF debut. Digital assets have been incorporated into its core strategy.

Breaking the fastest growth record, MSBT leverages low fees to surge ahead

Morgan Stanley recently officially entered the cryptocurrency market. Its Bitcoin ETF, trading under the code MSBT, demonstrated remarkable growth momentum in its first week of listing.

According to the latest data from Farside Investors, this new fund, launched on April 8, accumulated net inflows exceeding $100 million in just 6 trading days, reaching $103 million. By the time of writing, the total net inflow over 7 days was $116 million.

This achievement set a new record for Morgan Stanley’s ETF debut success and quickly surpassed many earlier competitors. On Wednesday, MSBT attracted $19.3 million in a single day, with total assets directly surpassing the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (WBTC), launched in January 2024. MSBT’s rapid growth is driven by its highly competitive fee policy.

Image source: Farside Investors Morgan Stanley’s MSBT 7-day total net inflow of $116 million

The fund’s current expense ratio is 0.14%, the lowest fee standard among the current U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, one basis point lower than Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust’s 0.15%. This price war strategy is quite common in the asset management industry. Morgan Stanley, with its large brand influence and low costs, successfully attracts price-sensitive investors.

• Related news: Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF officially listed! First-day inflow of $34 million with steady performance

Digital assets shift to core strategy, Morgan Stanley fully innovates financial infrastructure

Digital assets have evolved into an indispensable part of Morgan Stanley’s daily operations. Amy Oldenburg, Head of Digital Asset Strategy, emphasizes that the firm is at a critical turning point, with cryptocurrencies officially entering the core. Oldenburg took on her current role in February this year, overseeing digital asset development across institutional wealth management and asset management divisions, indicating the firm’s deep integration of cryptocurrencies into its core financial services.

To achieve deep integration, Morgan Stanley is currently committed to overhauling its financial infrastructure, covering wallet systems, custody solutions, data transmission, and compliance monitoring. The team is thoroughly dissecting existing workflows to understand capital flows, trading mechanisms, and the challenges of integrating blockchain technology. Although the regulatory environment for tokenized assets and stablecoins remains unclear, Morgan Stanley views tokenization technology as an important step toward building high-value services. The firm’s future technological innovation focus will be on scalability for transactions ranging from $50 million to $100 million.

Learn more about Morgan Stanley’s plans in the crypto industry
Morgan Stanley enters crypto custody! Submits trust bank application, plans to push crypto trading and explore lending
Buying coins alone is not enough; Morgan Stanley plans to launch a wallet in the second half of the year, targeting tokenized private markets

Wall Street giants accelerate plans, structured investment products become the next battleground

Top financial institutions on Wall Street are accelerating responses to Morgan Stanley’s offensive. Goldman Sachs recently submitted an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, officially entering the crypto investment industry. This new product uses options strategies to generate additional income, with market demand shifting toward structured products that provide stable cash flow. BlackRock is also preparing a similar income-generating ETF, increasing competition among institutions.

• Related news: Wall Street’s crypto plans advances again! Goldman Sachs applies for Bitcoin income ETF, how does it differ from traditional ETFs?

Morgan Stanley’s extensive wealth management network gives it an advantage, managing trillions of dollars in client assets and thousands of financial advisors, serving as a direct channel to bring Bitcoin to traditional investors. Many investors prefer to invest through regulated accounts rather than trading on native crypto platforms. MSBT provides a convenient entry point for this. Established financial institutions have realized they cannot ignore Bitcoin ($BTC), and giants like JPMorgan are expected to follow suit, accelerating Bitcoin’s integration into mainstream finance.

Overview of the global Bitcoin ETF market, institutional inflows support price momentum

The influence of the 13 Bitcoin spot ETFs in the U.S. market continues to grow. As of April 16, the total net assets of these funds reached $97.6 billion, accounting for about 6.5% of Bitcoin’s total market cap. On April 15, the entire market recorded $186 million in net inflows. Although MSBT’s asset size still lags behind BlackRock’s IBIT at $64.3 billion, its rapid growth threatens established players like Franklin, Valkyrie, and Invesco, which have accumulated inflows between $200 million and $400 million.

Competition within the ETF industry is fierce, with average lifespan shrinking from 4.66 years in 2024 to 3.5 years in 2025. Over 40 ETFs have been liquidated in the first two months of 2026. Currently, major crypto ETFs have not been affected by the liquidation trend. Bitcoin prices fluctuate around $74,600 to $75,000, still below the October 2025 high of $126,000, but institutional inflows continue to support strong fundamentals for Bitcoin. As traditional financial infrastructure improves, the integration of Bitcoin with Wall Street has become an inevitable trend.