Morgan Stanley has purchased 28,289 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) for its Europe Opportunity Fund, according to a recent SEC filing.
The Europe Opportunity Fund is a mutual fund that holds a variety of Europe-based companies both in and out of the tech space. The fund normally invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities issued by European companies.
According to the fund’s fact sheet, the fund primarily invests in “quality established and emerging companies located in Europe that the investment team believes are undervalued at the time of purchase.”
The fund has $291.61 million assets under management, as of the time of writing.
According to a March SEC filing, the Europe Opportunity Fund offers exposure to Bitcoin indirectly though cash settled futures and investments in GBTC via a wholly-owned Cayman Islands subsidiary.
GBTC, a Bitcoin trust, has $22 billion in assets under management, as of the time of writing.
Growing Client Demand for Crypto
Morgan Stanley has become more active in crypto this year due to client demand.
The investment bank recently gave the go-ahead for several funds to begin seeking indirect exposure to Bitcoin, including the Europe Opportunity Fund.
The four other funds included in the initial rollout were the Institutional Fund, Institutional Fund Trust, Insight Fund, and Variable Insurance Fund.
According to the filings, each fund may now invest up to 25% of their total assets in Bitcoin.
Morgan Stanley also confirmed in April that it was offering access to Bitcoin funds for its wealth management clients. Two of the funds were from Galaxy Digital. The other is a collaboration between FS Investments and NYDIG.
Individual investors must have at least $2 million in assets held by Morgan Stanley in order to be eligible to invest in the funds, while investment firms need at least $5 million. Crypto investments in these funds are capped at 2.5% of individual investors’ total net worth.
The Galaxy Institutional Bitcoin Fund LP has a minimum investment of $5 million. The Galaxy Bitcoin Fund LP and FS NYDIG Select Fund require a minimum investment of $25,000.
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