Morgan Stanley expanded its crypto exposure in the second quarter, according to its latest 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The bank raised its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from 13.4 million shares to about 16.5 million shares, an increase of more than 3 million shares or roughly 23% quarter over quarter. Even though Bitcoin’s price fell during the quarter and the market value of that holding dropped from about $667 million to $549 million, the firm still added to its ETF allocation. The filing also showed broader accumulation across crypto-linked products. Morgan Stanley increased positions in several other Bitcoin ETFs, including products from Grayscale Investments, Bitwise Asset Management, and Fidelity Investments, with its FBTC stake up about 38%. On the Ethereum side, the bank lifted its BlackRock ETHA holdings by about 202% to 4.6 million shares and increased its Grayscale position by about 26% to 5.1 million shares. It also disclosed a first-time holding in Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), worth about $43.3 million, while adding Solana-related products and adjusting several crypto equity positions.

PANews’ daily roundup on Aug. 14 collected a wide spread of crypto, AI, regulatory and market developments, led by Databricks closing a $5 billion strategic financing and DeepSeek opening global testing for the developer preview of DeepSeek Harness v0.1 under the MIT license. The report also said Tether completed its first full independent financial statement audit, receiving an unqualified opinion from KPMG U.S. for Tether International, S.A. de C.V.’s 2025 accounts. In U.S. regulation, JPMorgan was reported to have ended its banking relationship with Polymarket last year over regulatory concerns, while the CFTC scheduled its Innovation Advisory Committee’s first meeting for Aug. 20 to discuss crypto assets, AI and prediction market oversight. The project and corporate section included Binance Alpha’s planned Aug. 14 listing of KiiChain (KII), SharpLink staking $200 million in ETH through Lido, and DeepSeek’s API price update that will take effect on Aug. 17. The funding and market data portion covered Kalshi’s talks for a new $750 million round at a $40 billion valuation, AMD’s potential bond sale of up to $5 billion, Bitcoin spot ETF net outflows of $131 million on Aug. 13, Reddit’s upcoming addition to the S&P 500, several crypto company earnings releases, and whale address activity tracked on-chain.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw $131 million in net outflows on Aug. 13, according to data from SoSoValue. Ark Invest and 21Shares' ARKB recorded the largest single-day outflow, losing $58.82 million, while its cumulative net inflow still stands at $1.28 billion. The Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF BTC was the top inflow fund for the session, adding $38.93 million and lifting its historical total to $2.74 billion. Morgan Stanley's MSBT also drew capital, with $7.08 million in daily inflows and $436 million in cumulative net inflows. The combined net asset value across all bitcoin spot ETFs came to $77.27 billion as of press time. That equals 6.07% of bitcoin's total market capitalization. Cumulative net inflows for the entire category stand at $51.85 billion. ARKB accounted for most of the day's redemptions, while the Grayscale mini trust and MSBT absorbed the modest inflows. The figures cover the Aug. 13 US trading session.

NYSE Arca approved Morgan Stanley’s spot Solana and Ethereum ETFs on July 24, 2026, marking what the source article describes as a major shift in the structure of U.S. crypto exchange-traded products. The approval is notable on two fronts in the original report: it is presented as the first time a top Wall Street investment bank has issued a non-Bitcoin crypto ETF, and as the first time U.S. regulators have allowed native public-chain staking to be built directly into a tightly regulated spot ETF structure at scale. According to the source, both ETFs carry a 0.14% management fee, below several cited peers. Morgan Stanley’s S-1 filing states that the Ethereum trust plans to stake 50% to 80% of its ETH holdings, while the Solana trust may stake up to 100% of its SOL. The article says Figment and Coinbase Canada are among the node service providers, taking 5% of staking rewards as a service fee. The report argues that this structure changes how crypto ETFs are priced by adding a recurring income layer on top of price exposure. It also links the launch to broader market shifts, including fund flows moving beyond Bitcoin-only allocations and a possible change in regulatory treatment of staking from a prohibited feature to a disclosure-based product template.

According to ChainCatcher, on-chain data from Arkham shows that Morgan Stanley has once again 'bought the dip.' The investment bank spent $15.05 million to acquire approximately 232.548 bitcoins through its spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund, MSBT. With this latest addition, Morgan Stanley's total bitcoin holdings have surpassed 6,500 for the first time, reaching 6,563 BTC. Those holdings are valued at more than $426 million. The word 'again' in the report implies that Morgan Stanley has previously increased its bitcoin exposure during market dips, though specifics of those earlier purchases were not included. Arkham, an on-chain data platform, identified the transaction via blockchain monitoring. The purchase highlights the growing role of spot bitcoin ETFs as a way for institutional investors to gain exposure to digital assets. It also shows that major traditional financial firms continue to accumulate bitcoin when prices are weak. No further details about the transaction, such as the exact execution time or price, were disclosed by ChainCatcher.

Morgan Stanley has bought more Bitcoin, allocating $15.05 million to purchase about 232.548 BTC through its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund MSBT, according to Arkham. The transaction took place this morning and marks another buy-the-dip move by the bank. Following the purchase, Morgan Stanley's total Bitcoin holdings have topped 6,500 coins for the first time, reaching 6,563 BTC. The position is now valued at over $426 million.

Onchain Lens reported on X that Morgan Stanley's MSBT bitcoin ETF withdrew another 232.55 BTC from Coinbase Prime three hours ago. The fund has now accumulated 332.85 BTC over the past three days, valued at roughly $21.53 million.

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded total net inflows of $129 million on Aug. 6 U.S. Eastern Time, marking a fourth straight day of positive flows, according to SoSoValue data cited by PANews. BlackRock’s IBIT led the session with $128 million in daily net inflows, bringing its cumulative historical net inflows to $61.088 billion. Morgan Stanley’s MSBT followed with $14.9424 million in daily net inflows, with cumulative historical net inflows reaching $429 million. On the outflow side, VanEck’s HODL posted the largest daily net outflow at $32.7708 million, while its cumulative historical net inflows stood at $1.104 billion. As of publication, the total net asset value of spot Bitcoin ETFs was $78.775 billion. Their net asset ratio, measured as a share of Bitcoin’s total market capitalization, was 6.09%, and cumulative historical net inflows across the segment had reached $52.079 billion.