Morgan Stanley (NYSE: $MS) and JPMorgan (NYSE: $JPM) both increased their holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds in the second quarter, according to Form 13F filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The case for institutional adoption looks cleaner in share counts than in dollars: Morgan Stanley's position in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) grew 23% to 16.5 million shares, yet the reported value of that stake slipped to roughly $549 million from $667 million as Bitcoin's price fell during the period.
That tension runs through every line of the filing. Morgan Stanley added across the board in Bitcoin products: Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund rose nearly 38%, the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF both saw larger positions, and the bank's own Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, which began trading in April, reported 2.57 million shares on the books valued at roughly $43.3 million. Ether exposure moved faster in percentage terms. Holdings of BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF grew approximately 202% to 4.6 million shares, while the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF climbed 26% to 5.1 million shares. Solana appeared for the first time: roughly $4.25 million in Grayscale's Solana Staking ETF and $2.26 million in Fidelity's Solana Fund.
What JPMorgan's filing adds to the read-through
JPMorgan's numbers point the same direction. Its IBIT position rose to roughly 10.4 million shares from 8.3 million, worth approximately $356 million at June's end. Its exposure to BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF grew more than fourfold to approximately 1.17 million shares. The bank also opened new positions in two XRP investment products after holding none the previous quarter, alongside a new Solana staking ETF stake.
The counterargument is structural and deserves its due. Much of what shows up in 13F filings for broker-dealers reflects client facilitation rather than proprietary conviction. A bank accumulating ETF shares for customers doesn't represent the same directional position as an asset manager taking an outright long. The filings don't separate the two, which means the narrative of Wall Street going risk-on crypto outruns what the data can actually support.
On balance, the direction is real: both institutions held more crypto ETF exposure at the end of June than at the start of the quarter. The dollar values tell a different story because Bitcoin's price fell during the period, and that gap between share count growth and value decline is the line to watch. The Q3 filings will show whether these positions expanded into the recovery or got trimmed.