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- A Morgan Stanley fund owned 58,116 Grayscale shares worth $2.018 million by July 31, according to a SEC filing Monday.
- In April, the same fund owned 28,298 shares worth $1.3 million.
- "I like the idea here that you can bet small, win big," Morgan Stanley's Dennis Lynch said on crypto last week.
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Investment bank Morgan Stanley has been gradually ramping up its involvement in the cryptocurrency market this year, and recently doubled down on its bitcoin exposure via the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), according to a SEC filing Monday.
The Morgan Stanley Europe Opportunity Fund owned 58,116 GBTC shares worth $2.018 million as of July 31, according to a filing on Monday. Prior to that, the fund owned 28,298 shares worth $1.3 million as of April 30.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust issues shares that are solely tied to bitcoin and its market value.
Dennis Lynch, who heads Morgan Stanley's asset management subsidiary Counterpoint, which is unrelated to the Europe Opportunity Fund, spoke recently at the Morningstar annual investment conference at which he laid out why he's recently invested in bitcoin.
"I like the idea here that you can bet small, win big," Lynch said.
"I like to say that bitcoin is like Kenny from South Park, he dies every episode and comes back again," Lynch said. "And so ... you see in the newspaper, the media, that bitcoin's dead, it's over this time, and it just continues to persist."
Investment in cryptocurrencies has boomed this year and sent the prices of the major coins, including bitcoin, to record highs. Bitcoin, the largest by market value, currently trades around $41,000, having gained over 300% in the last 12 months alone. It is highly volatile, but has shown great resilience in the face of selling pressure.
Morgan Stanley is one of many major banks that is gradually increasing its exposure to the cryptocurrency market. JPMorgan gave its retail wealth clients access to crypto funds that included exposure to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust in July this year.
The Grayscale Trust was established in 2013 and is now the largest public holder of bitcoin. The trust has $28.2 billion in assets under management according to its website. Its shares are currently trading around $34.18. They were valued at around $36 when Morgan Stanley's fund said it owned the new shares.