CoinSpotMarket Update
Bitcoin's First Monthly Gain of 2026 & Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF
6 minutes
3 days ago
6 minutes
3 days ago
Bitcoin (BTC) posted a gain of approximately 4.5% in March for the first time in September, ending a streak of five consecutive monthly losses.
BTC started April at roughly $98,600 ($68,150 USD), up 12% from the local bottom of $87,600 ($60,500 USD) that was hit in early February.
BTC finished March in the green, the first monthly gain since September (Source: TradingView)
Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s largest investment banks, has set the fees for its forthcoming spot Bitcoin ETF at just 0.14%, or 14 basis points. That’s 11 basis points lower than BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest Bitcoin ETF by total holdings. The ETF is "likely to launch in early April,” predicted Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart.
If approved, Morgan Stanley’s ETF would be the first spot bitcoin ETF issued directly by a major U.S. bank. The bank oversees a network of approximately 16,000 advisors who manage trillions of dollars in client assets.
Interestingly, there are only two ETFs that carry the ‘Morgan Stanley’ name. If approved, this Bitcoin ETF would be the third, if approved, another major step forward in Bitcoin’s legitimisation within traditional finance.
The total amount of Bitcoin held by ETFs represents around 6.2% of Bitcoin’s total supply of 21 million. When people buy shares in these spot ETFs, they are basically buying a claim on the ETF. The issuers of these ETFs (e.g. BlackRock, VanEck) hold the actual BTC in secure custody on behalf of all shareholders. Generally speaking, more demand for these spot ETFs equates to more demand for BTC.
U.S. Bitcoin ETFs hold 1.3 million BTC, or 6.2% of the total supply (Source: _checkonchain)
Franklin Templeton, one of the world's largest asset managers with $2.72 trillion (USD $1.7 trillion) under management, partnered with Ondo Finance (ONDO) to tokenise five of its exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These ETFs span U.S. equities, fixed income, equity income and a gold strategy.
Through Ondo's platform, Ondo Global Markets, users can access tokens that track the economic exposure of these ETFs at any time of day, seven days a week, because the tokens trade on a blockchain rather than a traditional stock exchange. Since launching in September, Ondo Global Markets has processed over $19.2 billion (USD $12 billion) in cumulative trading volume across 60,000 users.
The partnership is a notable development for real-world assets (RWAs), a fast-growing corner of crypto where traditional financial assets are represented onchain. Partnerships like this one between Ondo and Franklin Templeton are yet another sign that large financial institutions are moving from curiosity to active participation in RWAs. (For more on this topic, see our previous market update.)
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is expanding its research into real-world assets (RWAs), assets like government bonds and corporate debt that are represented and traded on blockchains.
The endorsement came after Project Acacia, a research pilot run with major banks and government agencies explored 20 use cases of tokenisation across assets like government bonds, trade payables, carbon credits and private credit funds.
In a speech last week, RBA Assistant Governor Brad Jones cited analysis that found the potential economic efficiency gains of $24 billion ($16.7 billion USD) per year, with even greater upside if new markets emerged and second-round effects were accounted for.
“We no longer see the main question as whether tokenisation has a future in Australia’s financial system, but rather, how,” Jones said.
