'Not Going to Stop at Bitcoin': Morgan Stanley Weighs Tokenization, Tax Solutions in Crypto Push

The debut of Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin ETF marked a large milestone connected Wednesday for the concern slope with $9.3 trillion successful lawsuit assets, but the fiscal powerhouse is already weighing what could beryllium adjacent erstwhile it comes to crypto.

The steadfast filed applications successful January for exchange-traded funds tracking Ethereum and Solana, but it’s doubtful that the institution volition halt there, Amy Oldenburg, caput of digital-asset strategy astatine Morgan Stanley, told Decrypt successful an interrogation this week.

“We’re not going to halt astatine conscionable Bitcoin,” she said successful notation to Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin ETF, which has generated astir $46 cardinal successful nett inflows since debuting Wednesday, according to Farside Investors. “It’s truly astir the longer-term journey, and there’s rather a agelong mode to go.”

Last year, Morgan Stanley became the archetypal large wirehouse to let its service of much than 15,000 wealthiness advisors to transportation third-party spot Bitcoin ETFs to eligible clients, green-lighting products offered by plus managers Fidelity and BlackRock. And Morgan Stanley’s adjacent moves could lucifer steps those competitors person taken, Oldenburg said.

She described a tokenized money-market money arsenic “definitely a way forward” for Morgan Stanley’s merchandise roadmap, highlighting opportunities crossed different plus classes that the concern slope could pat for creating integer representations of real-world assets.

Franklin Templeton pioneered the format for yield-bearing tokens that are backed by U.S. Treasuries successful 2021, but that plus manager’s merchandise has since been supplanted by BlackRock’s BUIDL, which has grown to $2.3 billion, according to RWA.xyz. Fidelity’s Digital Interest Token, meanwhile, has garnered a full worth of astir $172 million.

Parametric, a Morgan Stanley subsidiary, has established a plethora of rules-based concern strategies for clients, including tax-loss harvesting. Helping clients offset superior gains taxation liabilities with integer assets represents “something to besides explore,” Oldenburg said.

The concern slope has already telegraphed different moves: Last year, it confirmed plans to connection crypto trading via E*TRADE successful a team-up with infrastructure supplier Zerohash. In February, Oldenburg said Bitcoin-based output and lending services are besides being explored.

'Captive Audience' Could Drive Demand for Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF: Bloomberg Analyst

Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin Trust whitethorn conflict to turn past BlackRock’s $53 cardinal spot Bitcoin ETF, but it’ll likely enactment pressure connected the industry-leading alternative, Bloomberg Senior ETF expert Eric Balchunas told Decrypt this week.