Morgan Stanley Nears Bitcoin ETF Launch With Fee Below BlackRock

Morgan Stanley, the $9 trillion banking giant, is preparing to enter the US spot Bitcoin ETF market with the lowest fee in the category.

This pricing move signals that the bank is aiming to quickly buy market share in one of crypto’s most crowded product categories.

Morgan Stanley Sets 0.14% Fee for New Bitcoin ETF

On March 27, the banking giant filed an amended S-1 registration statement proposing a 0.14% fee for its forthcoming ETF.

“The Trust will pay the unitary Delegated Sponsor Fee which is accrued daily at an annualized rate of 0.14% of the net asset value of the Trust (the “Delegated Sponsor Fee”) and the amount of bitcoin payable in respect of each daily accrual shall be determined by reference to the Pricing Benchmark,” the filing stated.

This pricing structure is the cheapest in the market and sits significantly lower than the industry-leading iShares Bitcoin Trust, issued by BlackRock. IBIT currently charges a fee of 0.25%.

Nate Geraci, president of Nova Dius Wealth Management, said the proposed fee stands out not only within crypto ETFs but across commodity-linked products more broadly.

“Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s largest and most prominent financial firms, is set to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF. The fee on that ETF will be the lowest in the category, and meaningfully lower than the world’s largest physical gold ETF,” Nate Geraci, president of Nova Dius Wealth stated on X.

Moreover, the aggressive pricing strategy is unsurprising, given that rivals have been in the market for more than two years.

Since their approval in 2024, US spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded $55.93 billion in total net inflows. The funds collectively manage $84.77 billion in assets, representing roughly 7% of the total global Bitcoin supply. BlackRock’s fund currently dominates the sector, holding $51.49 billion in net assets.

Market observers argue that Morgan Stanley is now positioned to challenge those dominant players thanks to its massive distribution advantage.

The bank’s wealth management division oversees roughly $6 trillion in client assets and commands a network of 16,000 financial advisors.

Previously, Morgan Stanley allowed these advisors to offer clients access to third-party Bitcoin ETFs. By launching an in-house fund, the firm can vertically integrate its cryptocurrency offerings and capture the fee revenue directly.

Meanwhile, the proposed Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF represents just one component of a sweeping digital asset expansion at the financial giant. In January, the firm also filed for ETFs on other digital assets, including Ethereum and Solana.

Moving beyond ETFs, the bank is aggressively building out its core infrastructure to support decentralized finance (DeFi) and the tokenization of real-world assets.