MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Morgan Stanley’s new spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (MSBT) attracted more than $200 million in early demand, largely without help from its own advisers.
“Almost all of the activity in week one or two was self-directed, meaning it wasn’t our advisors selling it,” Amy Oldenburg, the bank’s newly appointed head of digital assets, said during a fireside chat at Consensus in Miami.
In just a few weeks since its establishment, the fund has already amassed more than $200 million in assets, an unusually fast launch in the traditional ETF market, where most fund launches struggle to gain traction in a short period of time. Oldenburg said these flows reflect individual investors making allocation decisions on their own, rather than relying on financial advisors.
This dynamic is indicative of a broader shift.
Cryptocurrency risk is no longer limited to niche or speculative corners of the market. Instead, investors who may have held digital assets directly are now moving some of their capital into regulated products.
“How much activity we have in terms of spot cryptocurrency holders who also want to put their assets into ETPs,” Oldenburg noted, describing the shift from decentralized holdings to more traditional investment vehicles.
“Hybrid World”
However, Morgan Stanley isn’t betting on a single format. The company plans to support ETF access and direct cryptocurrency ownership, including spot trading on its wealth platform later this year.
“We’re going to be living in a hybrid world for quite some time, and we’re going to be supporting both digitally native and traditional businesses,” Oldenburg said.
This approach reflects a real challenge faced by large financial institutions: Clients increasingly hold both stocks and cryptocurrencies, often in disconnected systems. Bringing these assets into a single view remains a work in progress.
Oldenburg said that in addition to ETFs, the bank is exploring how digital assets can reshape market structures more broadly, including faster settlement and tokenized financial products.
“We’re not going to tokenize for the sake of tokenizing,” she said. “Ultimately, we want to provide more value and better service to our customers.”
This effort is part of a long-term shift, not a short-term trend. “This is not a project for 2026 or 2027. This is the next decade,” she added.