Over 28,000 shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust were purchased by one of Morgan Stanley’s funds.
At the time of purchase, the investment bank’s indirect exposure to Bitcoin was $1.3 million.
Morgan Stanley has approved a handful of funds to invest up to 25% of their total assets in Bitcoin-related products.
According to a recent filing, Morgan Stanley, a Wall Street investment firm, purchased a considerable number of shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust in late April.
Grayscale, a Morgan Stanley European Opportunity Fund that invests in established and developing firms in Europe, has given the investment bank access to the top cryptocurrency.
Morgan Stanley owned 28,289 shares of GBTC, worth $1.3 million at the time of the filing, according to a June 28 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Morgan Stanley’s allocation follows a disclosure in April announcing that the firm had granted the go-ahead for some funds to get indirect exposure to Bitcoin. The European Opportunity Fund, its Institutional Fund, and its Insight Fund, for example, can invest up to 25% of their total assets in crypto-related items.
The investment bank made a huge effort to adopt the leading cryptocurrency as an asset class, with $4 trillion in customer assets. Morgan Stanley became one of the first large banks in the United States to provide Bitcoin funds to its wealth management clients in late March.
Grayscale, the world’s largest crypto asset manager, now manages $29 million in assets. The company’s Bitcoin trust has provided a vehicle for institutions to invest in the bellwether cryptocurrency through a security-like product.
The crypto asset management firm presently owns 654,600 Bitcoin, accounting for more than 3% of the total supply of the main cryptocurrency.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares can be purchased directly at the net asset value by accredited investors who deposit BTC or US dollars. The shares can only be sold in the secondary market after a six-month lock-in period has passed.
GBTC shares purchased in January will be unlocked in July, with 140,000 Bitcoin worth of shares expected to be released.
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