BNY and Coinbase Custody have been selected to jointly provide digital asset custody services for Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), a newly launched exchange-traded product (ETP) that aims to track the performance of bitcoin.
Offered by Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), MSBT will track the performance of bitcoin based on the CoinDesk bitcoin benchmark 4pm NY settlement rate. The rate is, in turn, based on an aggregation of the executed trade flow of major bitcoin spot exchanges.
Morgan Stanley claims in a press release that MSIM is the first US bank-affiliated asset manager to offer a cryptocurrency ETP.
Besides digital asset custody, BNY will also serve as the administrator and transfer agent for MSBT, providing accounting, record keeping, and cash management services.
According to Amy Oldenburg, head of Digital Asset Strategy at Morgan Stanley, MSBT reflects an approach to “thoughtfully building digital asset capabilities grounded in traditional governance and market infrastructure that seeks to meet long-term client needs”.
