Morgan Stanley boosts BlackRock Bitcoin ETF stake 23% in Q2

Morgan Stanley raised its BlackRock Bitcoin ETF stake 23% to 16.5 million shares in Q2, adding Ether, Solana, and Circle exposure, its 13F filing shows.

The SEC filing signed Aug. 11 showed the position grew by roughly 3.04 million shares, though its reported value fell nearly 18% to $549 million from $667 million as Bitcoin declined during the three months ended June 30.

Morgan Stanley also reported 2.57 million shares of its own Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, valued at about $43.3 million, after the fund began trading on NYSE Arca on April 8 with a 0.14% annual management fee. Ether exposure rose 202% in BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF to 4.6 million shares, while the bank opened new positions in Grayscale's Solana Staking ETF and Fidelity's Solana Fund worth $4.25 million and $2.26 million, respectively.

The filing, covering 45,905 entries with an aggregate value of about $1.89 trillion, shows Morgan Stanley favoring regulated crypto funds over crypto-linked equities. The bank cut its Coinbase position by 550,000 shares, reduced CleanSpark by more than 3.1 million shares, and fully exited an 8 million-share Bitfarms stake.

Own Bitcoin fund joins the mix

Morgan Stanley's MSBT launched on NYSE Arca on April 8 with a 0.14% annual management fee, below the 0.25% charged by both BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund. The Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust charges 0.15%, placing Morgan Stanley's product one basis point below that rate at launch.

Despite offering its own fund, Morgan Stanley continued to hold larger positions in competing products. Its $549 million IBIT position was more than 12 times the value of the reported MSBT holding at the end of June. The bank also added shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF and the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF, while its Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund holding rose nearly 38%.

As crypto.news reported on Aug. 8, MSBT later added about 232.5 BTC worth $15.05 million as Bitcoin traded near $65,000. Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham estimated the purchase raised the fund's balance to 6,563 BTC, valued at more than $426 million at the time.

Ether, Solana, and the stock split

Ether exposure rose across two funds during the quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holding in BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF by about 202% to approximately 4.6 million shares, and reported around 5.1 million shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF, up roughly 26% from the previous quarter.

Solana appeared through two new positions: approximately $4.25 million in the Grayscale Solana Staking ETF and about $2.26 million in the Fidelity Solana Fund. The positions preceded Morgan Stanley's launch of its own Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products on July 28 under the MSSE and MSOL tickers, both charging 0.14% annual fees with staking provisions.

Morgan Stanley made one of its largest crypto-related additions in Circle Internet Group, the company behind the USDC stablecoin. Its reported Circle position increased from about 1.46 million shares in Q1 to approximately 8.32 million shares at the end of Q2, a more than 5.5x increase. Positions also grew across Cipher Digital, Core Scientific, Hut 8, and Bitdeer Technologies.

Not every crypto-linked security increased. Morgan Stanley reported about 550,000 fewer Coinbase shares, cut its CleanSpark position by more than 3.1 million shares, and fully exited an 8 million-share Bitfarms position.

The 13F provides a quarter-end view of certain U.S.-listed securities held by institutional investment managers. It does not identify every transaction made during the quarter, disclose short positions, or establish that every reported share represents a proprietary investment by Morgan Stanley itself. The shift toward regulated crypto funds and away from crypto-linked equities suggests Morgan Stanley is prioritizing direct digital asset exposure through ETFs over equity stakes in companies tied to the cryptocurrency market, a pattern that could encourage other large wealth managers to follow.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.