Morgan Stanley fund holds more than 28,000 shares of GBTC

Morgan Stanley’s Europe Opportunity Fund has snapped up more than 28,000 shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust product, according to a filing by the firm with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The fund, which seeks exposure to many European companies as well as other assets, owns 28,289 shares of GBTC — equal to about $1.3 million around the time of the filing. The allocation follows an April filing by Morgan Stanley showing that the firm had given the green light to certain funds — including the European Opportunity Fund, the firm’s Institutional Fund, and Insight Fund among others — to gain exposure to bitcoin “indirectly.” 

According to that filing, each fund can invest as much as 25% of its total assets into bitcoin-related products. 

Grayscale — the largest asset manager in the crypto space — touts its bitcoin trust as a way for large institutions to allocate to bitcoin through a product structured as a security. Sometimes its products trade at a discount or premium relative to the cryptocurrency it is meant to track. 

Still, Grayscale’s assets under management have slid lately along with broader crypto prices. Its Bitcoin Trust has around $21 billion under management, according to The Block’s data dashboard.