coinfomania.com
New York-based leading global investment firm Morgan Stanley now holds more than $300 million worth of bitcoin exposure via the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). The development was first discovered by the Twitter account Macroscope, which monitors institutional Bitcoin involvement.
In new SEC filings, Morgan Stanley has disclosed a dramatic increase in Bitcoin exposure in its asset management business.
Earlier this year, Morgan reported buying Grayscale BTC in a large number of investment funds. For the three funds with the largest Grayscale holdings…
— MacroScope (@MacroScope17) November 24, 2021
As of June 2021, it was reported that Morgan Stanley owned more than 3.9 million GBTC shares that were spread out across different funds.
However, more recent SEC filings dating back to September show that the wealth management firm has recorded increased exposure to the bitcoin investment product and currently holds about 6.5 million shares of GBTC (appr. $300 million at today’s prices)
For instance, the three funds of Morgan Stanley, which holds a majority of the Grayscale BTC, Growth Portfolio fund, Insight fund and Global Opportunity fund, have each gained an additional 1,511,965, 592,498 and 543,909 GBTC shares respectively, as of September 2021. Other investment funds of the investment manager that carries the GBTC also recorded a large percentage increase.
Notably, this recent discovery shows that Morgan Stanley’s investors are becoming more comfortable with indirectly adding Bitcoin to their portfolios. Morgan Stanley’s investors, however, are not the only ones interested in GBTC.
Since its launch in 2013, the Grayscale Investment product for Bitcoin has seen a steady increase in interest, both from institutional and wealthy private investors.
For instance, Ark Invest, an American investment firm founded by Cathie Wood, holds the largest amount of GBTC shares. The company bought an additional 310, 067 of its shares earlier this year, bringing the total amount it holds to 9,155,988 as of July.
Dallas-based investment manager McGowanGroup also increased its GBTC shares to 60,358 (worth $2.6 million as of February) a more than double amount of what was formerly owned by the manager.
Coinfomania also reported earlier this year that American investor Bill Miller intends to invest $337 Million in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, via one of his flagship investment funds, the Miller Opportunity Trust.