Morgan Stanley may allow its 15,000 brokers to recommend that customers purchase spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, according to a report from AdvisorHub on Thursday, which cited two senior executive sources familiar with the company’s plans.
The firm is reportedly establishing the groundwork for solicited purchases, including requirements for risk tolerance and limits on allocation and trading frequency. However, its senior executive sources were not able to provide a timeframe for the policy change, AdvisorHub stated.
Major brokerage firms including Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo began offering spot bitcoin ETFs following their January debut but limited purchases to an unsolicited basis, where customers would need to reach out to their advisors.
U.S.-traded spot bitcoin ETFs from major financial institutions including BlackRock, Grayscale, and Ark Invest have amassed a cumulative net inflow of $12.29 billion and over $53.6 billion in assets under management as of Wednesday, according to SoSoValue data.
In the case of BlackRock, its IBIT spot bitcoin fund accounts for 24% of all their flows from 1,000 ETFs.
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About Author
Danny Park is an East Asia reporter at The Block writing on topics including Web3 developments and crypto regulations in the region. He was formerly a reporter at Forkast.News, where he actively covered the downfall of Terra-Luna and FTX. Based in Seoul, Danny has previously produced written and video content for media companies in Korea, Hong Kong and China. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism and Business Marketing from the University of Hong Kong.