Morgan Stanley bets on GBTC as Grayscale completes unlocking

Bitcoin has a “long way to go” and institutions know it. As they awaken to this realization, wealth management giants like Morgan Stanley are ramping up their indirect Bitcoin exposure. As per a recent filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC], the third-largest wealth management firm has purchased over one million Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares. Right now, that is worth around $40 million.

Morgan Stanley has been one of the first movers on the institutional side of crypto. Thus, their trust in the digital asset speaks volumes about the momentum behind the world’s largest crypto. Grayscale has been one of the primary spots for institutions to land their crypto-money in and with Grayscale Bitcoin Trust [GBTC] completing its share unlockings this week, we can see more institutions buying in.

Grayscale’s unlocking of Bitcoin has previously spurred rumors of a bearish Bitcoin market. As the firm approached its last unlocking, there were strong speculations of a market collapse. However, 25 August saw 58 BTC being unlocked as part of Grayscale’s final unlocking and the market was not impacted at all.

Prominent chartist Willy Woo acknowledged the event and predicted last year itself that it was going to be a dud. He tweeted,

“Remember when all the traditional analysts said the Grayscale unlock would unleash billions in selling this last week? Yeah, no.”

While the next series of unlockings is scheduled for 2022, Grayscale may see more interest flooding in from institutions just like Morgan Stanley. In fact, the latest buyers of GBTC included other prominent banks like JPMorgan Chase and Ark Invest.

(function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[1]='MERGE1';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[0]='MERGE0';ftypes[0]='email';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);