Morgan Stanley has made its first capital investment foray into the blockchain space, co-leading a $48 million funding for Securitize. According to a release issued on Monday, the Coinbase-backed asset tokenization outfit has completed a Series B funding round that drew participation from Morgan Stanley Tactical Value-managed investment funds and Blockchain Capital. Other participants in the funding round included Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SMTB), Emin Gün Sirer’s Ava Labs, and venture capital fund IDC Ventures, among others. The oversubscribed Series B round also saw participation from previous Securitize backers like Ripple and Borderless Capital. Monday’s Series B funding announcement comes …

Analysts at thAmerican multinational investment bank Morgan Stanley have estimated the likely changes in eurozone banks’ deposits should a digital euro be widely adopted. According to the analysts, a European Union central bank digital currency (CBDC) could suck up 8% of customer deposits from eurozone banks, Reuters reported Wednesday. This share may be far higher in smaller countries like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Greece, they said. The analysts’ estimates were based on a “bear case” scenario in which all eurozone citizens over the age of 15 sent 3,000 euros ($3,637) into a digital euro wallet controlled by the …

United States investment bank Morgan Stanley has updated the prospectus of several institutional funds to reflect potential exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) through Grayscale and cash-settled futures, highlighting once again the rapid uptake of digital assets by major investment firms. In a March 31 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, Morgan Stanley declared it has updated the “Investment Policies and Strategies” section for 12 institutional portfolios. The update enables Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund, Inc. to add Bitcoin to several portfolios via Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and cash-settled futures. The filing explains: “To the extent a Fund invests in …

Major South Korean internet company Naver has reportedly begun negotiations to acquire a stake in the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb. Naver has discussed a potential equity stake acquisition with major Bithumb stakeholder Vidente, local publication the Maeil Business Newspaper reported Monday, citing several unnamed sources. Naver is the provider of South Korea’s largest search engine and Line messenger, and is reportedly seeking to expand its platform’s presence in the country’s fintech market. The internet giant is reportedly planning to add Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment option on its payment services Naver Pay as well as Line Pay in Japan …

According to Korean media, U.S.-based multinational investment banking giant Morgan Stanley is rumored to be negotiating the acquisition of a significant share in leading Korean cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb. The news was reported on March 18 by Aju News, with Bithumb reportedly in discussions with major Bithumb shareholder, Bident — who owns a roughly 10% stake in Bithumb Korea. A March 19 article from leading local search engine Naver states that Morgan Stanley is planning to invest between 300 and 500 billion Korean won ($254 million to $441 million). The report cited an anonymous senior Bithumb representative as stating, “Morgan Stanley …

Bitcoin (BTC) is superior to gold if investors take the time to study it, says hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci. In an interview with CNBC on March 18, Scaramucci, who is CEO of SkyBridge Capital, reinforced his belief in Bitcoin for mainstream audiences. Scaramucci on Bitcoin vs. gold: "The world is changing" With Bitcoin surging in 2021, questions continue to be asked about whether the gains are coming at the expense of gold, which has failed to capitalize on risks associated with global government money printing. Comparing the two assets, Scaramucci left little doubt as to his preference, arguing that …

Institutional banking powerhouse Morgan Stanley seems to have given Bitcoin its nod of approval. Based on fresh intel via an “internal memo”, as reported on by CNBC, Morgan Stanley will give clients access to Bitcoin (BTC) investing, though only under specific conditions. “The investment bank, a giant in wealth management with $4 trillion in client assets, told its financial advisors Wednesday in an internal memo that it is launching access to three funds that enable ownership of bitcoin, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter,” CNBC reported on Wednesday. The opportunity is expected to open in April, according …

We are on the brink of Bitcoin’s mass adoption, says the CEO of Bitcoin investment firm NYDIG Robby Gutmann. Gutmann, also the co-founder of $10B asset manager Stone Ridge, told the “On the Brink" podcast on Mar. 15 that we can expect to see announcements from some of the firm’s strategic partners that will drastically change the traditional financial landscape. “I know starting more or less next week, you’re going to see an absolute drumbeat of pretty game-changing milestones from some of these firms.” On March 8, NYDIG completed a $200 million growth capital round led by multiple major finance …

New York Digital Investment Group announced the completion of a $200-million growth capital funding round for business initiatives relating to Bitcoin (BTC). The funding round was led by NYDIG strategic partners Morgan Stanley, Stone Ridge Holdings Group, Soros Fund Management and MassMutual, among others. NYDIG, a provider of Bitcoin-related technology and investment services, will work alongside its strategic partners in applying Bitcoin-focused solutions to the insurance, banking and clean energy industries. NYDIG's co-founder and CEO, Robert Gutmann, said: “The firms participating in this round are more than investors — they are partners, each well known to us for years. NYDIG …

Reports that legacy banks like BNY Mellon and Deutsche Bank are becoming active in the cryptocurrency space, including through custody services, should come as welcome news for crypto investors. Lost or misplaced private keys, after all, are a bane of the crypto world — just recall the Welshman who lost 7,500 Bitcoin (BTC), worth about $400 million today, when he landfilled his PC’s hard drive, forgetting it was the sole repository of his private key. Meanwhile, traditional banks are society’s safekeepers par excellence, so maybe they can improve the crypto user experience with regard to private keys at the very …

Morgan Stanley, one of the biggest investment banks in the U.S., is reportedly considering investing in Bitcoin (BTC), according to reports. Bloomberg reported that Morgan Stanley’s $150 billion investing arm called Counterpoint Global could place Bitcoin to “its list of possible bets.” Bitcoin begins recovery after the news Hours before the news was released, the price of Bitcoin dropped by nearly 4% from $48,000 to as low as $46,252 on Binance. The price of Bitcoin began to recover when the news broke, rising from around $46,300 to above $47,300, by nearly 3%. Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global considering Bitcoin as an …

According to a report from Bloomberg news this morning, Morgan Stanley is the latest major financial institution to consider an investment in Bitcoin. Citing “people with knowledge of the matter,” the report says that Cointerpoint Global, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Investment Management with $150 billion in assets under management, “is exploring whether the cryptocurrency would be a suitable option for its investors.” Morgan Stanley’s website describes Counterpoint Global as a fund specializing in investments “whose market value can increase significantly for underlying fundamental reasons.” The fund is up 72.7% on the year, significantly outperforming the MSCI All Country World …