NYSE Arca issued a listing notice for Morgan Stanley's spot Bitcoin ETF under the MSBT ticker, marking the first such product from a major U.S. bank.
Morgan Stanley is on the verge of launching the first spot Bitcoin ETF issued directly by a major U.S. bank, after NYSE Arca posted an official listing notice for the fund.
NYSE Arca issued an official listing notice for the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust on March 25, 2026, a procedural step that typically signals an imminent launch. The fund will trade under the ticker MSBT.
Two days later, Morgan Stanley filed an amended S-1 registration with the SEC disclosing a 0.14% annual management fee, undercutting most existing spot Bitcoin ETF competitors. The filing confirms a basket size of 10,000 shares and seed capital of approximately $1 million. BNY Mellon will handle administration and cash custody, while Coinbase will serve as prime broker and cold storage custodian for the fund's Bitcoin holdings.
MSBT would be the first spot Bitcoin ETF issued under a major Wall Street bank's own name, rather than by a standalone asset manager like BlackRock or Fidelity. Morgan Stanley oversees more than $5 trillion in client assets and already offers crypto access through its wealth management division.
The 0.14% fee positions MSBT as one of the cheapest spot Bitcoin ETFs on the market, directly challenging BlackRock's IBIT at 0.25% and Fidelity's FBTC at 0.25%. Morgan Stanley is also separately planning to offer retail crypto spot trading through E-Trade in the first half of 2026, making BTC, ETH, and SOL available to millions of brokerage clients.
The listing notice does not guarantee a launch date. Final SEC approval is still required before trading can begin. Industry observers expect MSBT to go live in Q2 2026 if the remaining regulatory steps proceed without delays. A successful launch could accelerate interest from other major banks in developing their own Bitcoin fund products.
Morgan Stanley's entry into the spot Bitcoin ETF market under its own brand represents a milestone for institutional crypto adoption. With competitive fees and the backing of one of Wall Street's largest names, MSBT could reshape the ETF landscape. This is a developing story and details may evolve as regulatory review continues.
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