Arkham Intelligence has publicly identified the on-chain custody wallets tied to Morgan Stanley’s spot bitcoin ETF, MSBT, giving investors and observers a new way to monitor the fund’s bitcoin holdings almost in real time. The move adds a layer of blockchain transparency to a product issued by one of the largest names in traditional finance, allowing market participants to watch wallet balances and transaction flows without waiting solely for periodic regulatory disclosures.
Three Wallets Linked to MSBT Custody
According to Arkham, its internal research team identified three on-chain wallet addresses associated with the custodians behind MSBT, specifically Coinbase and BNY Mellon. As of around April 18, 2026, those wallets held a combined 1,348 BTC. Based on a bitcoin price in the range of $75,700 to $76,000, the holdings were worth roughly $102.08 million.
Arkham also said in an earlier public post on X that since inception, MSBT had purchased around $83.6 million worth of bitcoin, while the addresses it had identified at that time held approximately $64.4 million on-chain. The total has since increased, reflecting continued accumulation after launch.
MSBT’s Launch Put a Major Bank Into Spot Bitcoin ETF Competition
MSBT launched on April 8, 2026 on NYSE Arca, making Morgan Stanley the first major U.S. bank to issue a spot bitcoin ETF. That alone made the product notable, but its cost structure added another point of interest: the fund carries an expense ratio of 0.14%, the lowest among major U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs cited in the report. By comparison, Blackrock’s IBIT charges 0.25%.
Morgan Stanley oversees roughly $9.3 trillion in client assets, placing MSBT squarely in the spotlight for traditional finance audiences. Before Arkham’s wallet labeling, there was no comparable on-chain tracking tool specifically giving the public such a direct view into this ETF’s bitcoin custody footprint.
Recent Inflows Show Ongoing Accumulation
Arkham’s data points to continued inflows into the fund. Among the recent transactions cited was a transfer of roughly 177.757 BTC, worth about $13.75 million, that arrived around 23 hours before publication. Another deposit of about 209.296 BTC, valued near $15.47 million, was recorded three days earlier.
During the first two weeks after the fund’s launch, Arkham documented multiple additional deposits ranging from 80 BTC to 415 BTC. Importantly, the report said there had been no significant outflows observed from the identified wallets during that period. That pattern suggests net accumulation rather than active reductions in custody balances, at least across the addresses Arkham has publicly tagged.
Trading Debut and Early Asset Growth
MSBT’s market debut also drew attention for its initial trading activity. On its first day, the ETF posted roughly $34 million in trading volume. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reportedly said the launch ranked in the top 1% of ETF launches over the previous year. After about five trading days, the fund’s net assets had reached approximately $87 million.
Those figures help explain why wallet-level transparency matters. As inflows build and institutional demand becomes a focus, market participants increasingly want to compare official fund filings, issuer disclosures, and actual on-chain settlement activity.
Why On-Chain Tracking Still Comes With Limits
Spot bitcoin ETFs operate on a T+1 settlement cycle, meaning blockchain transfers tied to creations or redemptions generally appear with roughly a one-day delay after the relevant public activity. Arkham’s live dashboard reflects those flows once settlement is completed and the transaction is recorded on-chain, giving what is effectively near real-time visibility after blockchain confirmation.
At the same time, Arkham’s public labels may not yet capture the full set of Morgan Stanley-related addresses. The report notes that while the three identified wallets held 1,348 BTC, Morgan Stanley’s own website listed 1,820.60 BTC in holdings as of April 17, 2026. That gap suggests there may be additional custody addresses not yet labeled, not yet discovered, or not yet grouped into Arkham’s entity page.
Arkham said the three labeled addresses are grouped under a single entity page and can be viewed through a dashboard showing aggregate balances, inflow and outflow charts, and complete transaction history. The publicly visible address prefixes include bc1qa…, bc1qe…, and bc1qn….
Part of a Bigger Push for Institutional Blockchain Transparency
Arkham published a detailed research article on April 17, 2026 explaining its identification methodology. The analytics platform now covers more than 450,000 entity pages and billions of address labels across exchanges, governments, asset managers, DeFi protocols, and individual wallets.
The company already tracks custody wallets tied to Coinbase, Grayscale, and Blackrock’s IBIT, among others. Its page for the U.S. government reportedly shows more than 328,000 BTC in seized assets, though those totals can change as new addresses are labeled and as market prices fluctuate.
Against that backdrop, the MSBT labeling is significant because it gives both retail and institutional observers a direct on-chain window into a Wall Street institution’s bitcoin accumulation. Previously, those trying to gauge a major bank’s ETF exposure would often need to wait for official reports or fund disclosures. With Arkham’s labels, inflows and balances can now be tracked from a single interface once transactions settle on-chain.
For the bitcoin ETF market more broadly, the development underscores how public blockchains can narrow the information gap between issuers and investors. Even if full wallet coverage is not yet guaranteed, the ability to monitor a large financial institution’s ETF-related bitcoin movements in near real time marks a meaningful shift in transparency for the crossover between crypto infrastructure and traditional finance.