Morgan Stanley’s Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund offered by a U.S. bank, opened trading on the NYSE Arca Wednesday and recorded roughly $30.6 million in inflows on its debut. The fund generated about $34 million in trading volume, slightly above Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas’s $30 million first-day estimate.
At the close of trading on April 8, MSBT held 444.4 BTC, valued at approximately $31.7 million. That position represents roughly 0.03% of the estimated 1.29 million BTC held collectively by U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. Morgan Stanley’s ETF launched with the lowest fee among major issuers and was second only to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) on the day, as IBIT posted about $40 million in inflows.
While the debut gives Morgan Stanley a respectable entry into the spot-Bitcoin ETF market, it is less a direct challenge to BlackRock than a sign that traditional financial institutions still see room to expand in crypto ETFs. Arriving two years after the initial wave of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF approvals, MSBT’s opening interest was modest compared with the higher first-day demand seen in the 2024 launch cohort.
Net flows across U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs were negative on the day. Inflows to IBIT and MSBT were outweighed by outflows from the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), which saw about $79 million and $75 million leave their funds, respectively, according to Farside data. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) registered another $11 million in redemptions, leaving total daily outflows from U.S. spot BTC ETFs at $124.5 million.
The selling continued a short streak of net redemptions: Tuesday saw $159 million in outflows after a strong Monday that produced $471 million in inflows—the largest single-day inflow since late February.
By comparison, the January 2024 launch wave produced much larger opening-day activity: GBTC and IBIT handled about $2.3 billion and $1 billion in opening-day volume, respectively. IBIT recorded roughly $112 million in inflows on its first day, while GBTC saw about $95 million redeemed.
Despite a quieter start, Bloomberg’s Balchunas noted MSBT could still rank among the notable ETF launches over the past year, citing a roughly $60 million volume threshold that marked other significant launches such as the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL), the Canary XRP ETF (XRPC), and the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM).
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