Morgan Stanley Europe Opportunity Fund Reports Doubling Bitcoin Holdings

The $4 trillion asset manager is one of many large financial institutions, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, seeking to meet client demand for exposure to the digital asset class.

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key takeaways

  • MS institutional portfolio reported holding 28,289 Grayscale BTC (GBTC) shares earlier this year
  • Morgan’s Insight Fund reportedly has the largest amount of GBTC, holding 928,051 shares (about $36 million) as of June.

Morgan Stanley Europe Opportunity Fund reported holding 58,116 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) as of July 31, according to an SEC filing on Monday. Earlier this year, the fund reported holding 28,289 shares.

The filings reveal that Morgan Stanley has owned sizable amounts of GBTC across multiple institutional portfolios. Morgan’s Insight Fund reportedly has the largest amount, holding 928,051 shares, equivalent to roughly $31 million, as of June.

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This isn’t the $4 trillion-asset manager’s first foray into crypto. The news comes after Morgan Stanley confirmed in April that it was offering clients exposure to bitcoin and previously announced that it was one of the participating investors in NYDIG’s $200 million fundraising round. 

Morgan Stanley is one of many financial institutions seeking to meet client demand for exposure to the digital asset class, including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock, to name a few.

Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment.

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