Morgan Stanley Increases its Crypto Exposure With Large Investments in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust

Despite the bearish rhetoric prevalent among crypto analysts until recently, Morgan Stanley, one of the largest banks in the United States, has been gaining exposure to Bitcoin by investing millions of dollars through its various funds.

Even though the information was publicly available, Twitter User MacroScope was one of the firsts to share it on social media.

In SEC filings, Morgan Stanley has just reported owning a large amount of Grayscale Bitcoin across multiple portfolios.

The largest of these appears to be 928,051 shares held by Morgan’s Insight Fund.

These are major disclosures.

Link to all filings:https://t.co/Vi4iiBa5J5 pic.twitter.com/FZfU8qS0TX

— MacroScope (@MacroScope17) August 25, 2021

The analyst compared Morgan Stanley’s previous filings with today’s information, noting that the bank’s crypto exposure is way higher now compared to just a couple of months.

When Morgan Stanley reported owning 28.289 shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, MacroScope predicted that it would only increase its position in the near future… Time proved him right.

Morgan Stanley Has Been Increasing its Crypto Investments

According to recent SEC filings, the Morgan Stanley Insight Fund, the Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund Inc, the Morgan Stanley Variable Insurance Fund Inc., and the Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund Trust, all made indirect investments in Bitcoin.

Indirect investments are those that offer exposure to a product that in turn reflects or depends on the performance of another. In the case of Morgan Stanley, most investments in cryptocurrencies are in shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

The most significant crypto investment comes from the Morgan Stanley Insight Fund, which holds 928,051 shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust for a reported total of $27,665,200.31. Yet, while it’s a sign of the bank’s growing interest in cryptocurrencies, the investment represents just 0.34% of the fund’s total assets

As CryptoPotato previously reported, the bank’s funds can have a maximum allocation of 25% in crypto. In March of this year, Morgan Stanley began providing support for Bitcoin investments to high-net-worth clients. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is probably the favorite way for traditional investors to gain some exposure to Bitcoin, considering there is still no approved ETF in the United States.

Other Banks Join In

The race for banks and other financial institutions to capture clients eager to invest in cryptocurrencies has heated up in 2021, mainly thanks to the rise of Bitcoin in late 2020.

JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and others have already started offering cryptocurrency investments and including positive analysis in their periodic reports.

Similarly, doubts about Bitcoin seem to be clearing up in the rest of the world, and many countries have taken their first steps in integrating cryptocurrencies into their financial infrastructure.

Canada, for example, already has approved cryptocurrency ETFs. Brazil and Chile have their respective crypto ETFs in the south of the continent, with Brazil leading the way with 4 in total. Not to mention El Salvador, which in two weeks will begin adopting Bitcoin as legal tender.

So, it is no surprise that banks are more interested in Bitcoin now than ever before.