Morgan Stanley wealth managers to embrace Blackrock, Fidelity Bitcoin ETFs: Report

Morgan Stanely, the largest wealth manager in the United States, will soon allow its 15,000 financial advisers to start recommending Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to clients, according to a CNBC report. 

Starting Aug. 7, Morgan Stanley wealth managers can begin advising eligible clients to buy shares of two BTC ETFs: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), according to CNBC. Other spot crypto ETFs, including the recently launched Ethereum ETFs, are not yet approved.

Winning over Morgan Stanley is a historic milestone for crypto. Until now, the largest financial advisory firms, known as wirehouses, have been hesitant to embrace spot crypto ETFs. Along with Morgan Stanley, they include big names such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

Despite soaring valuations, crypto has struggled to reach beyond its base. Of the roughly $60 billion pouring into spot crypto ETFs in 2024, most came from crypto native retail investors and hedge funds.

Wirehouses manage trillions of dollars and set the bar high for embracing new financial products. For crypto ETFs, winning this market segment is “a game changer,” Kyle DaCruz, director of digital assets product for asset VanEck, an asset manager that sponsors crypto ETFs, told Cointelegraph.

Among wirehouses, Morgan Stanley is the largest. Its advisory network manages some $3.75 trillion, including $1 trillion in self-directed client accounts. Across all of its banking units, Morgan Stanley manages some $6.2 trillion, according to financialplanning.com.

Blackrock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC are emerging as blue chips among BTC ETFs. They are seeing adoption not only among wirehouses like Morgan Stanley, but also among independent financial advisers, Roxanna Islam, head of sector and industry research at VettaFi, a fund researcher, told Cointelgraph.

Continued uptake by leading advisory platforms could spur a surge of inflows from advisers into spot BTC ETFs, Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, told Cointelegraph.