Morgan Stanley Selects BNY, Coinbase As Custodians for BTC ETF

The new fund will establish Morgan Stanley's foothold in crypto and benefit the company even if it does not perform on par with heavyweights like BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust.

Published on Mar. 4, 2026

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Financial services giant Morgan Stanley has selected Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon and crypto exchange Coinbase as custodians for its Bitcoin Trust Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The custodians will hold all of the fund's Bitcoin (BTC) in cold storage, with a portion moving to hot wallets for creation and redemption purposes.

Why it matters

The ETF reflects growing institutional adoption of crypto even amid a marketwide downturn. The launch of a Bitcoin ETF from a major financial services company is also 'bullish' for the sector, as it signals there is still a lot of 'untapped' interest in digital assets, reaching new customers.

The details

Morgan Stanley filed SEC applications for spot BTC and SOL (SOL) ETFs in January. Both funds are passive investment vehicles that hold and track the prices of the underlying crypto assets. The new fund will establish Morgan Stanley's foothold in crypto and benefit the company even if it does not perform on par with heavyweights like BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust.

  • Morgan Stanley filed the SEC applications for the ETFs in January 2026.
  • The SEC filing for the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust was made on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.

The players

Morgan Stanley

A financial services company that has selected BNY Mellon and Coinbase as custodians for its Bitcoin Trust Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF).

BNY Mellon

A global financial services company that has been selected as a custodian for Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin Trust ETF.

Coinbase

A crypto exchange that has been selected as a custodian for Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin Trust ETF.

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What’s next

The judge in the case will decide on Tuesday whether or not to allow Walker Reed Quinn out on bail.

The takeaway

The launch of a Bitcoin ETF from a major financial services company like Morgan Stanley is a bullish signal for the crypto sector, as it indicates there is still a lot of untapped interest in digital assets, reaching new customers.