Morgan Stanley Files Second Amendment for Direct Spot Bitcoin ETF Product

BNY Mellon will handle the custodial and administration while Coinbase will take care of the master broker and BTC custody.

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

The update adds operational details and shows progress on the bank’s application, although approval is not yet guaranteed.

Morgan Stanley Adds Structure to Bitcoin ETF

In its filing, the bank revealed plans to raise an initial seed basket of 50,000 shares, which is expected to raise approximately $1 million. At the beginning of the month, the bank revealed that it had taken another normal step in the preparation of the ETF, buying a few shares in the fund for research purposes.

In its previous amendment, the investment giant revealed that it has roped in BNY Mellon and Coinbase as key service providers, with the former acting as custodian, administrator, and transfer agent, while the latter will act as the primary broker and custodian of the fund’s BTC funds. Additionally, the filing also confirmed that if approved, the proposed BTC ETF would trade on the NYSE Arca, MSBT as its ticker.

The financial institution submitted its application for the BTC ETF back in January, along with product filings linked to Solana (SOL). At the time, it said it decided to accept crypto assets because of the improved regulatory clarity under the Trump administration. And while it has yet to disclose its management fees, it’s a place where the Bitcoin ETF could go live in the next few weeks, thanks to the general level of SEC listings.

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

Institutional Crypto Push Gathers Speed

Morgan Stanley’s entry into crypto is not exactly new. It previously allowed certain trading clients to access digital asset trading, and the recent launch of an ETF from Wall Street giant BlackRock may indicate what to expect.

You may also like:

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

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