Morgan Stanley submitted its second amendment to its planned Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust on March 17, 2026, adding operational details including planned listing on NYSE Arca under the ticker MSBT and a $1 million seed capital structure. However, the product remains unapproved and cannot be sold until the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declares the registration statement effective.
In its latest Bitcoin ETF filing, Morgan Stanley indicated that shares of the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust are expected to be listed on NYSE Arca, signaling the bank's progression from early structural design to exchange-level planning.
Morgan Stanley has been distributing BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) through its advisor network. Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder of RedStone, noted that the bank is shifting from distributing BlackRock's IBIT to issuing its own product to capture management fees directly, rather than earning distribution commissions.
In the revised prospectus, the sponsor is expected to purchase 50,000 initial seed shares, totaling an anticipated $1 million in proceeds. These proceeds will be used to purchase Bitcoin for the trust prior to any public listing.
A basket size of 10,000 shares is specified in the application. Baskets are the creation and redemption units authorized participants use to manage the supply of ETF shares, and their size determines the minimum block for institutional trading.
Despite the added details, the prospectus explicitly states that the registration statement remains preliminary. Securities cannot be sold before the SEC declares the registration statement effective.
The timeline of the filings shows steady procedural progress: the original S-1 was submitted on January 6, 2026, Amendment 1 followed on March 4, and Amendment 2 arrived on March 17. Each version added specificity, but filing amendments is a standard part of the SEC registration process and does not imply imminent approval.
No SEC effectiveness notice for the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust registration statement has been publicly released yet. Furthermore, NYSE Arca's 19b-4 approval for the trust's listing has not been verified.
Morgan Stanley's entry would position it as the first major U.S. bank-affiliated asset manager to launch its own spot Bitcoin ETF, moving beyond distribution agreements to direct product issuance. The next milestone to watch is whether the SEC declares the registration statement effective, which would pave the way for a public launch.