The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) completed its first month of trading without a single day of net redemptions, a streak unmatched by any other U.S. spot Bitcoin fund during the same period. Launched on April 8, MSBT attracted approximately $194 million in net inflows and ended its debut month managing over $240 million in assets, equivalent to roughly 2,620 Bitcoin.
Data from SoSoValue reveals the fund recorded 17 days of positive inflows and five flat days, with zero daily outflows. This performance sharply contrasts with the broader spot Bitcoin ETF market, which experienced $422 million in total outflows across just the last two sessions of the period. On May 7, while BlackRock’s IBIT shed $27.2 million, Fidelity’s FBTC lost $97.6 million, and ARKB saw $26.6 million in redemptions, MSBT pulled in $5.7 million. The fund also traded at a 0.24% premium to net asset value, signaling demand outpaced creation unit supply.
Industry observers attribute MSBT’s resilience to Morgan Stanley’s dual strategy of brand trust and aggressive pricing. The fund carries an annual sponsor fee of 0.14%, the lowest among all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, undercutting the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (0.15%), Bitwise’s BITB (0.20%), and even BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (0.25%). While the fee gap appears small, at institutional scale it translates to $1.1 million annually per $1 billion invested, a critical consideration for advisors and model portfolios.
Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley’s head of digital asset strategy, emphasized the bank’s focus on offering clients exposure through “financial structures they already trust.” Almost all of MSBT’s early inflows came from self-directed clients, as the fund had not yet been made available on the bank’s advisory platform, which includes roughly 16,000 financial advisors managing $9.3 trillion in client assets. Once that channel opens, it provides a proprietary distribution pipeline no other issuer can match. Morgan Stanley is also piloting spot crypto trading on E*Trade, initially covering Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana.
The ETF’s success coincided with a broader demand recovery. U.S. spot Bitcoin funds attracted over $3 billion in net inflows across six consecutive weeks through May 8, the longest weekly inflow streak since last summer. Total net assets in the category stood at $106.6 billion, representing 6.67% of Bitcoin’s market capitalization. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas projected MSBT could reach $5 billion in assets under management within its first year, a target likely dependent on tapping the advisor channel.
