Morgan Stanley alerted its wealth management consultants on Wednesday that the Wall Street giant will begin offering access to at least one bitcoin-related fund to accredited wealth management clients.
It is the latest sign of bitcoin adoption on Wall Street and a major development for cryptocurrency in the wealth management channel. Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit has 16,000 consultants, managing approximately $ 2.3 trillion in client assets.
According to a bank source, the company could offer customers access to funds operated by NYDIG or Galaxy Digital.
On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley published a note through its wealth management unit that described the case of cryptocurrency as an emerging class of investment assets. This article suggested that potential investors should look at publicly traded products, rather than getting direct exposure through currency ownership.
“For qualified investors * ready to gain exposure, we suggest starting with publicly traded products – preferably those that are multiasset and potentially accessing growth opportunities through a venture capital / private equity investment in the blockchain ecosystem,” explains the note in its conclusion.
The fact that Morgan Stanley offers access to a NYDIG fund is perhaps not surprising, given that the Wall Street bank was among those who participated in NYDIG’s $ 200 million growth capital round earlier this month.
NYDIG CEO Robby Gutmann, said during a podcast appearance earlier this week that “[i]Next week, you will see revolutionary milestones for the adoption of bitcoins in the financial landscape. “
“Galaxy is excited to partner with Morgan Stanley, the first US bank to offer wealthy customers access to bitcoin funds”, Galaxy founder Mike Novogratz said in a tweet after the news was released.
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