Starting Wednesday, Morgan Stanley will allow its wealth management advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs to select clients.
Morgan Stanley will soon allow its wealth management advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs to certain clients. According to a CNBC report, starting Wednesday, the firm's approximately 15,000 financial advisors can solicit eligible clients to purchase shares of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.
This development is a response to high client demand for Bitcoin, but Morgan Stanley is approaching it with caution. Only clients with "a net worth of at least $1.5 million, an aggressive risk tolerance and the desire to make speculative investments" will be eligible for bitcoin ETF solicitation. Additionally, these investments are limited to taxable brokerage accounts and not retirement accounts. The bank will also monitor clients' Bitcoin holdings to prevent "excessive exposure to the volatile asset class."
Morgan Stanley's move marks the first among major Wall Street banks to permit financial advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs proactively. Other major banks, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, have policies restricting their advisors from pitching bitcoin ETFs unless clients explicitly request them.
Morgan Stanley had previously made available private funds from Galaxy and FS NYDIG starting in 2021, but these were phased out earlier this year. The bank is also monitoring the market for newly approved ether ETFs but has not committed to whether it will provide access to those.
