Bank Launches Bitcoin ETF
In a televised interview in 2024, former Morgan Stanley top executive James Gorman made his feelings known about Bitcoin.
“I’ve never really understood the value of Bitcoin as a form of stored value,” he said.
“It’s clearly speculative. I think for wealthy people it should play a very small role in their financial fabric because it’s so speculative, it’s so volatile.”
Gorman went on to say that while Bitcoin was not a fad, he did not believe it to be a core investment.
“I think it’s a speculative asset, of which there are plenty of choices”.
A mere two years later Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s biggest financial institutions managing some $5.5 trillion in US client assets, launched its own spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
MSBT is the Name
While Gorman is still around as Chairman Emeritus of Morgan Stanley as well as chairperson of The Walt Disney Company board, so too is Bitcoin. Right there in his backyard, in fact.
Though no official confirmation came from Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas revealed something interesting in late March 2026.
He shared a screenshot on X showing a pending listing for the bank’s ETF. The ticker was “MSBT”.
Balchunas’ post said it all: “First bank to do a bitcoin ETF (unthinkable couple yrs ago). But not just any bank, a big boy bank w the largest network of financial advisors. 16k advisors managing $6.2T (that’s double Merrill, Goldman, JPM [JP Morgan]).”
There Were Signs
There is no small irony to the fact that 24 months earlier Morgan Stanley’s top dog was an out-and-out Bitcoin pessimist and now the bank is championing the crypto cause.
That being said, the about-turn points to just how much institutional interest in digital assets has soared over a relatively short period.
Two months before Balchunas broke his news on X, Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick made it public that the institution was engaging the US Treasury Department and regulators as it prepared to launch crypto products.
A month later, Morgan Stanley signaled its intentions again by filing for a banking charter to become a cryptocurrency custodian.
Bitcoin price USD might have been way off its 2025 high, but this had no impact on the bank’s decision to enter the market through BTC.
Morgan Stanley Has Faith
What analysts were waiting to see was how Morgan Stanley would fare as a new entrant when the likes of BlackRock had been cashing in on Bitcoin ETFs for some time already.
Time would tell, but one thing in the bank’s favour was the strength of its financial advisory teams.
Wealthy investors seldom make moves without them and if the advisors tell them that Bitcoin ETFs are succeeding, they are likely to listen, particularly when Morgan Stanley puts its own name to one.
According to one analyst [https://x.com/john_at_swan/status/2036855779634847819?s=20], the bank would not be launching MSBT “unless it believes that Bitcoin will be a persistent allocation across its wealth management client base”.
It is sentiment many would agree with.