Morgan Stanley, a prominent financial institution on Wall Street, has disclosed that it held approximately $270 million worth of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) as of the end of March, according to a recent filing. The investment is believed to have been made on behalf of the bank’s clients rather than as a direct speculation on bitcoin by the bank itself.
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley’s 13F filing revealed ownership of $269.9 million in Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) as of March 31, as disclosed in the 13F filing. Other major banking institutions such as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and UBS have also disclosed their holdings in bitcoin exchange-traded funds during the first quarter.
Please note that these purchases may not reflect the banks’ opinions regarding the future movement of bitcoin’s price. Instead, they were most likely executed either on behalf of the banks’ clients in wealth management or for the purpose of market making and fulfilling ETF authorized participant duties.
Morgan Stanley made spot bitcoin ETF allocations available to their customers shortly after gaining approval in January. However, these allocations were only provided when clients specifically requested them, indicating that the clients had to initiate the investment proposal with the broker.