The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), the first spot Bitcoin ETF launched by a US bank, drew $30.6 million in inflows on its debut—marking a solid, though not standout, entry into the market.
The fund began trading on NYSE Arca on Wednesday, recording about $34 million in trading volume, slightly exceeding Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas’ estimate of $30 million for day-one activity.
As of April 8, MSBT held 444.4 BTC, valued at roughly $31.7 million, representing around 0.03% of the approximately 1.29 million BTC held across US spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Despite offering the lowest fees among its peers, Morgan Stanley’s ETF trailed only BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which attracted $40 million in inflows, underscoring the competitive landscape dominated by major issuers.
The launch signals continued interest from traditional finance in Bitcoin ETFs, though Morgan Stanley enters a market established two years earlier, where the 2024 cohort set significantly higher expectations for first-day demand.
Meanwhile, overall flows for US spot Bitcoin ETFs turned negative, as inflows into IBIT and MSBT were outweighed by outflows elsewhere. Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) recorded withdrawals of $79 million and about $75 million, respectively. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) also saw $11 million in redemptions, bringing total daily net outflows to $124.5 million.
The outflows extended a two-day streak of selling, following $159 million in withdrawals on Tuesday. This came just after Monday’s $471 million in inflows—the largest single-day total since late February.
MSBT’s debut also fell short of the massive January 2024 launch wave that followed the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. On their first day, Grayscale’s GBTC and BlackRock’s IBIT recorded $2.3 billion and $1 billion in trading volume, respectively. IBIT attracted around $112 million in inflows, while GBTC saw $95 million in outflows.
Even so, despite lagging behind that initial surge, Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF is still on pace to rank among the top ETF launches of the past year, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.
The ETF analyst referred to funds such as the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL), the Canary XRP ETF (XRPC) and the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM), highlighting a $60 million volume threshold.
