Morgan Stanley to Offer Bitcoin Funds for Wealthy Clients

Morgan Stanley’s three funds include two from Galaxy Digital and another joint effort between FS Investments and NYDIG

by Tanaya Macheel /

March 17, 2021 11:57 am

James Gorman, chairman and CEO, Morgan Stanley; Source: Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley could allow clients with “an aggressive risk tolerance” and at least $2 million in assets to make investments as early as next month
Three funds include two from Galaxy Digital and another joint effort between FS Investments and the bitcoin investment services firm NYDIG

Morgan Stanley is getting ready to offer three funds that’ll give wealthy clients exposure to bitcoin.

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The $4 trillion-asset manager would be the first major bank to do so. It could allow clients with “an aggressive risk tolerance” and at least $2 million in assets to make investments as early as next month, according to CNBC, which first reported the story Wednesday morning. It will also limit bitcoin investments to as much as 2.5% of clients’ total net worth.

Two of the funds, one from Galaxy Digital and another joint effort between FS Investments and the bitcoin investment services firm NYDIG, have minimum investment requirements of $25,000. The other fund, also from Galaxy, has a $5 million minimum.

Morgan Stanley joins several other major financial institutions trying to meet increasing client demand for exposure to digital assets, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Charles Schwab and BlackRock this year alone. BNY Mellon is planning to custody digital assets too.

Morgan Stanley was also one of the investors in NYDIG’s $200 million fund raise earlier this month. In January it also boosted its stake in Microstrategy (which continues to buy bitcoin and now owns 91,326 BTC) by about 650,000 shares, as the price of bitcoin broke $40,000 for the first time.

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