Morgan Stanley filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 6, 2026, seeking approval to launch a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
What Morgan Stanley filed
The filing, made via a Form S-1, proposes an ETF called the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust.
The trust is structured to track the price of bitcoin, net of fees and expenses.
If approved, shares would list on a national securities exchange under a ticker symbol that has not yet been disclosed.
How the trust would work
Morgan Stanley Investment Management would sponsor the trust
The fund would hold bitcoin directly rather than using derivatives or leverage.
Its net asset value would be calculated daily using a designated bitcoin pricing benchmark derived from activity on major spot exchanges.
The trust is described as passive, meaning it would not attempt to trade bitcoin based on market conditions.
Creation, redemption, and trading
Shares would be created and redeemed only in large blocks by authorized participants, either in cash or in kind.
Cash transactions would be executed through third-party bitcoin counterparties selected by the sponsor.
Retail investors would be able to buy and sell shares on the secondary market through brokerage accounts.
