Arkham Intelligence has identified the on-chain wallets behind Morgan Stanley’s new spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF. The bank’s BTC holdings are now publicly traceable in near real time.
The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) began trading on NYSE Arca on April 8. It is the first spot Bitcoin ETF issued by a major US bank.
Arkham Makes MSBT Holdings Visible
Arkham’s blockchain analytics team identified the custodian wallets used by MSBT with high accuracy before verifying them. Users can now monitor BTC inflows and outflows as they settle on-chain.
However, traditional finance operates on a T+1 settlement cycle. On-chain confirmations appear one day after allocation decisions are made. That structural lag means wallet data reflects yesterday’s moves, not today’s.
Since launch, MSBT has purchased roughly $102.79 million in BTC. On-chain holdings sit at approximately 1,348 BTC.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas placed the debut in the top 1% of all ETF launches over the past year.
Low Fees Target BlackRock’s Lead
MSBT charges 0.14% in annual fees, the lowest among US spot Bitcoin ETFs. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) charges 0.25% and leads the market with roughly $57 billion in assets under management.
Morgan Stanley’s wealth management arm employs around 16,000 advisors overseeing $9.3 trillion in client assets. Even a modest allocation shift toward MSBT could generate substantial inflows over time.
Coinbase and BNY Mellon serve as digital asset custodians for the fund. Goldman Sachs and Charles Schwab are reportedly preparing competing crypto products, which suggests further fee pressure may follow.
