Morgan Stanley told its troops on Friday financial consultant According to CNBC, they will soon allow them to offer Bitcoin ETFs to some clients, a first for a major Wall Street bank.
Starting Wednesday, the company’s roughly 15,000 financial advisors can invite eligible clients to buy shares in two exchange-traded Bitcoin funds, according to people familiar with the policy.
These funds are BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, people familiar with the matter said.
Moves by Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s largest financial firms biggest The wealth management firm is the latest sign of mainstream financial adoption of Bitcoin. In January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved applications for 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, heralding the arrival of a more accessible, cheaper and easier-to-trade Bitcoin investment vehicle.
Bitcoin Withstood the market sell-off, the massive collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and criticism from the biggest names in finance, including JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett.
So it’s no surprise that Wall Street’s major wealth managers didn’t immediately embrace the new ETFs, banning their financial advisers from promoting the products and allowing trading only if clients are actively seeking the products.
Goldman SachsJPMorgan, Bank of America and FuGuo bank Spokespersons for the four banks said they would still follow the policy.
“Aggressive” tolerance
People familiar with the matter, talking about Morgan Stanley’s internal policies, said that Morgan Stanley’s move was in response to client demand and in an attempt to follow the changing digital asset market.
However, the bank remains cautious during the rollout: Only clients with a net worth of at least $1.5 million, an active risk tolerance and a willingness to make speculative investments will be suitable for Bitcoin ETF offerings, people familiar with the matter said. They added that the investments were in taxable brokerage accounts, not retirement accounts.
The bank will monitor clients’ cryptocurrency holdings to ensure they are not overly exposed to the volatile asset class, sources said.
The only cryptocurrency investments Morgan Stanley has approved for purchase are a pair of Bitcoin ETFs and private equity funds Galaxy and FS NYDIG. Available from banks starting in 2021.
Morgan Stanley is monitoring developments in the newly approved Ethereum ETF market but has not yet committed to whether it will offer the ETFs, people familiar with the matter said.
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