The post Morgan Stanley Faces Heightened Regulatory Risks Following Bitcoin ETF Offer appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Former SEC Chief of Internet Enforcement John Reed Stark has stated that Morgan Stanley’s latest move to introduce a wide-scale offer of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to its clientele will likely result in higher regulatory scrutiny for the American bank. This development comes amidst several commendations of Morgan Stanley from the crypto community in implementing what could be a significant pro-adoption policy. Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF Move Is A Death Wish, Stark Says Earlier this week, the Wall Street giant announced plans to allow 15,000 of its licensed financial advisors to start pitching the Bitcoin spot ETFs to clients. Specifically, Morgan Stanley will grant customers access to investing in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC).  This offer is restricted to high net-worth individuals of $1.5 million and above, with high-risk tolerance, who have expressed interest in investing in volatile assets. Commenting on this development, however, John Reed Stark has described Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF offer as a death wish in terms of regulatory scrutiny and compliance.  With two decades of experience in the Enforcement Division, The former SEC Chief believes Morgan Stanley may have opened itself to one of the most comprehensive enforcement sweeps by the Commission and also the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).  With Morgan Stanley’s large-scale Bitcoin ETF offer, Stark says these regulators will gain near-instantaneous access to all data on the bank’s Bitcoin sales to retail customers. This covers all forms of information including documents, email, texts, voicemail, and phone conversations. Interestingly, this “treasure trove of evidence” is not only accessible to the SEC and FINRA by request but can also be demanded for on-site inspections at Morgan Stanley’s offices.  Considering the massive amount of information that SEC and FINRA will be privileged to, John Reed Stark believes Morgan Stanley’s compliance…

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Filed under: News - @ August 11, 2024 4:08 am