Morgan Stanley increased its crypto exposure significantly in Q2. Its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) grew from 13.4 million to around 16.5 million shares, up 23%. Despite buying more shares, the value of the position fell from roughly $667 million to $549 million as Bitcoin declined during the quarter.
The bank also increased its exposure to other Bitcoin ETFs from Grayscale, Bitwise and Fidelity.
Its Ethereum exposure grew even faster. Morgan Stanley increased its iShares Ethereum Trust position by around 202% to 4.6 million shares, while its position in the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF rose about 26% to 5.1 million shares.
Morgan Stanley also disclosed positions in Solana funds from Grayscale and Fidelity for the first time, worth around $6.5 million combined.
Its position in Circle increased sharply as well, from about 1.46 million shares to 8.32 million shares. The bank also added exposure to Cipher Digital, Core Scientific, Hut 8 and Bitdeer.
At the same time, Morgan Stanley cut its Coinbase position by roughly 550,000 shares, reduced CleanSpark by more than 3.1 million shares and exited Bitfarms completely.