- Morgan Stanley filed an SEC amendment with new details on its proposed spot Bitcoin ETF on March 4, 2026.
- BNY Mellon and Coinbase assume central roles, while fees and some basket details are still open.
Morgan Stanley filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 4, 2026 the change (Amendment No. 1) was filed to register the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, thereby submitting new details about the planned spot Bitcoin ETF. The focus is primarily on role distribution, custody and operational processing.
How Morgan Stanley designs its Bitcoin ETF
The updated prospectus explains that the spot ETF is intended to passively track the Bitcoin price. The price is measured based on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement Rate and adjusted for costs. It literally says:
“The Trust is a passive investment vehicle that does not seek returns beyond tracking the price of Bitcoin. This means that the Delegated Sponsor will not sell Bitcoin speculatively when the price is high, nor will it buy speculatively when the price is low in anticipation of future price increases. Additionally, the Trust will not use leverage, derivatives or similar constructions to achieve its investment objective.”
Several central service provider roles are new. BNY Mellon Bank will act as administrator, transfer agent and cash custodian for the trust’s cash and cash equivalents. At the same time, BNY Mellon also acts as custodian, together with Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC.
In addition, the dependence on Coinbase in another function explicitly appears in the risk section: Coinbase Inc. is named as a prime broker, which, among other things, enables the sale of Bitcoin to pay the sponsor fee and certain expenses.
The document mentions both cash and in-kind creations: Authorized participants can purchase shares for cash, after which a named counterparty purchases Bitcoin and deposits it with the custodians; Alternatively, direct delivery of Bitcoin is possible. Returns are also possible as cash or in-kind redemptions.
It is also noticeable that important economic parameters are still listed as placeholders: The delegated sponsor fee is still specified in the document with a placeholder, and open fields for basket sizes or seed details also appear in several places.
Reactions from the Bitcoin community
On John Haar (Swan) summarized The most important points are summarized as follows: “More information about the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF: Coinbase becomes custodian. BNY Mellon becomes administrator/transfer agent. Authorized participants are still open.”
But the most important insight for him is:
“Morgan Stanley would not launch its own Bitcoin ETF – in a world where there have already been 11 other Bitcoin ETFs for two years – unless MS is confident that Bitcoin will continue to be a consistent part of its wealth management clients’ portfolios.”
Joe Consorti (Theya and Horizon) sees that similar. Morgan Stanley is sending a clear sales signal with this step:
“Morgan Stanley has 16,000 wealth managers with $6 trillion in AUM. They’re launching their own Bitcoin ETF because they see where a relevant portion of that $6 trillion is going – and they want the fees. That’s the signal.”
Jeff Park (ProCap/Bitwise) also interpreted the move as more than just another product in the already competitive spot ETF market. For him, it’s “the most bullish thing ever.”
It is still unclear whether and when the ETF will launch. This depends on when the next amendments to fees, basket details and the AP schedule follow and how long the SEC takes to process them.
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