SEC Filing Shows Morgan Stanley Holds ~1 Million Shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)

The recent disclosure of an SEC filing reveals that Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley has been heavily invested in Bitcoin. Reportedly, instead of direct investment, the company has opted for Bitcoin exposure through a regulated investment vehicle – Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

Popular market analyst MacroScope has been the first to report the news. Citing the SEC filing, the analyst reports that Morgan Stanley holds the Grayscale Bitcoin across its multiple portfolios.

Among them, Morgan’s Insight fund holds the largest amount of shares, precisely 928,051. Meaning the Morgan’s Insight Fund has exposure to 700 Bitcoin worth $36 million.

The banking giant had already made its intentions clear earlier this year. Back in April 2021, Morgan Stanley filed to seek Bitcoin exposure to 12 of its institutional funds.

With its investment in Bitcoin (BTC), Morgan Stanley is seeking a long-term capital appreciation for its investment.

Rising Bitcoin Craze Among Banks

Having criticized Bitcoin for several years, traditional banking institutions have started warming up to it. The rising demand from some of the biggest institutional clients has forced traditional banks to offer Bitcoin exposure.

Just last week, financial giants like Wells Fargo and BlackRock also declared their investments in Bitcoin (BTC). Banking giant Wells Fargo has registered a private Bitcoin Fund while Blackrock has invested a massive $382 million in Bitcoin mining stocks.

Back in June 2021, Goldman Sachs jumped into offering the facility of trading Bitcoin Futures to its institutional clients. Earlier this week, banking giant Citigroup filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expressing the desire to trade Bitcoin futures.

After a strong pullback to under $30,000 in June, Bitcoin (BTC) has registered a strong rally over the last month. Since the start of July, BTC has gained more than 45% shooting past $50,000 levels earlier this week.

However, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has failed to sustain these levels dropping under $50,000 once again. As of press time, BTC has been trading for $47,777 and a market cap of $899 billion.