Morgan Stanley, the banking giant with $9 trillion in assets, is preparing to enter the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market with the lowest rate in this category.
This pricing strategy shows that the bank wants to quickly capture market share in one of the busiest product categories in the crypto world.
Morgan Stanley sets 0.14% fees for new Bitcoin ETF
On March 27, the banking giant submitted an amended S-1 registration statement, proposing a rate of 0.14% for the new ETF.
“The Trust pays the fixed Delegated Sponsor Fee, which is calculated daily at an annual percentage of 0.14% of the net asset value of the Trust (the ‘Delegated Sponsor Fee’), and the number of bitcoins associated with the daily calculation is determined based on the Pricing Benchmark,” the document states.
This pricing structure is currently the cheapest on the market and is significantly lower than BlackRock's leading iShares Bitcoin Trust. IBIT now charges a percentage of 0.25%.
Nate Geraci, president of Nova Dius Wealth Management, says the proposed percentage stands out – not only for crypto ETFs but also compared to other products linked to commodities.
“Morgan Stanley, one of the largest and most well-known financial companies in the world, is about to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF. The percentage of that ETF will be the lowest in the category, and even lower than the largest physical gold ETF worldwide,” said Nate Geraci, president of Nova Dius Wealth, on X.
Moreover, this aggressive pricing strategy is not surprising, as competitors have been on the market for more than two years.
Since approval in 2024, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have collectively received $55.93 billion in net inflows. The funds manage a total of $84.77 billion in assets, which amounts to about 7% of the total global Bitcoin supply. BlackRock’s fund is the market leader with $51.49 billion in net assets.
Market researchers suggest that Morgan Stanley is now well-positioned to challenge the current market leaders thanks to the company's vast distribution network.
The bank's asset management division has approximately $6 trillion in client assets under management and works with 16,000 financial advisors.
Previously, these advisors were allowed to give their clients access to external Bitcoin ETFs. With its own fund, Morgan Stanley can now offer its crypto offerings entirely in-house and receive revenue from the fees.
The proposed Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF is also part of a larger digital asset expansion at the financial giant. In January, for example, the company also applied for ETFs for other digital assets such as Ethereum and Solana.
Outside of ETFs, the bank is meanwhile building its core infrastructure to best support decentralized finance (DeFi) and the tokenization of real-world assets.