tl;dr
Following the approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US, Morgan Stanley and UBS are racing to add crypto products to their platforms. Morgan Stanley has approved Bitcoin ETFs on its platforms, aiming to become the first brokerage house to offer them fully, while UBS plans to inclu...
Following the approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US, Morgan Stanley and UBS are racing to add crypto products to their platforms.
Morgan Stanley has approved Bitcoin ETFs on its platforms, aiming to become the first brokerage house to offer them fully, while UBS plans to include BTC ETFs on its platform for wide availability. However, neither bank has added the BTC ETFs to their platforms yet, with the products still in a holding pattern as they await the first move in what is perceived as a compliance game of chicken.
Institutional interest and adoption significantly increased after Spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds) were approved in the US. As a result, Morgan Stanley and UBS have entered a race to add crypto products to their platforms.
As reported by Bitcoinist, the news was broken by crypto commentator Andrew from Arch Public on March 26. The information revealed that the financial giant Morgan Stanley approved Bitcoin ETFs on its platforms. Several sources inside the banking titan confirmed that the approval would come in two weeks.
A Tuesday update on the situation revealed that another financial titan, the multinational investment bank UBS, joined the race to offer spot Bitcoin ETFs. The news was first shared on Scott Melker’s show. According to the X post, UBS was set to include BTC ETFs on its platform next week, when the US bank will supposedly add them, to be “widely available.”
Sources told the crypto commentator that Morgan Stanley executives are not pleased with UBS’s move. The executives are allegedly “salty” about the news as they want to be “the first wirehouse to approve the Bitcoin ETFs fully.”
UBS’s move has seemingly turned the global banking industry’s view of approval into a race. As Andrew commented on Wednesday on X, “interesting that global banks are talking about $BTC ETFs as a race.”
Bloomberg ETF expert Eric Balchunas weighed in. “Solid sources” informed Balchunas that neither bank has added the BTC ETFs to their platforms. Seemingly, the products are “still in holding pattern.”
Andrew added that UBS’s BTC ETFs are technically already on the platform. According to the commentator, they “already approved in PWM (>$10MM)” but must be marked as “unsolicited.”
BTC is trading at $66,376.58 in the 3-day chart. Source: BTCUSDT on Tradingview.com
Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
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