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Morgan Stanley, a leading global investment bank, is reportedly considering expanding access to bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The firm may soon authorize its approximately 15,000 brokers to actively solicit customer purchases.
Morgan Stanley to Widen Access to Spot Bitcoin ETFs
Global investment bank Morgan Stanley is contemplating broadening access to spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by permitting its approximately 15,000 brokers to actively solicit customer purchases, Advisorhub reported Wednesday, citing two of the firm’s senior executives familiar with the plan.
Following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of 11 spot bitcoin ETFs in early January, various investment firms, including Morgan Stanley, have been offering these funds to clients on an unsolicited basis, requiring customers to initiate discussions about these investments with their advisors.
A Morgan Stanley executive shared with the publication that the investment firm is in the process of establishing “guardrails” for solicited purchases. These include risk tolerance criteria and limits on allocation and trading frequency. However, specifics on when the company might revise its policies were not disclosed. “We’re going to make sure that we’re very careful about it,” the executive emphasized, elaborating:
We are going to make sure everybody has access to it. We just want to do it in a controlled way.
Another executive noted the strong customer interest in spot bitcoin ETFs, though they acknowledged the speculative nature of these investments. “Our clients aren’t betting the ranch on bitcoin,” he stated. “For most of those people, it’s quite interesting, so they put in a little bit of money.”
The demand for spot bitcoin ETFs, amplified by the recent bitcoin halving, is expected to positively impact BTC’s price. Bitwise Asset Management expects bitcoin to have “a great next 12 months.” Crypto.com’s CEO expects great performance for bitcoin within six months. Analyst Willy Woo suggested that bitcoin could reach as high as $650K once ETF investors fully deploy asset manager recommendations.
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