Morgan Stanley Tells Wealth Advisors They Can Pitch Bitcoin ETFs

Starting today, Morgan Stanley’s advisors are allowed to offer bitcoin ETFs to some clients — a first among major Wall Street banks. “Those funds are BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.” Morgan Stanley made the move in response to demand from clients and in an attempt to follow an evolving marketplace for digital assets […].The bank is still striking a note of caution, however, in the rollout: Only clients with a net worth of at least $1.5 million, an aggressive risk tolerance and the desire to make speculative investments are suitable for bitcoin ETF solicitation, said the people. The investments are for taxable brokerage accounts, not retirement accounts, they added. The bank will monitor clients’ crypto holdings to make sure they don’t end up with excessive exposure to the volatile asset class, according to the sources.

The only crypto investments approved for solicited purchase at Morgan Stanley are the pair of bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock and Fidelity; private funds from Galaxy and FS NYDIG that the bank made available starting in 2021 were phased out earlier this year. Morgan Stanley is watching how the market for newly approved ether ETFs develops and hasn’t committed to whether it would provide access to those, the people said.