MSBT Recorded $34M in First-day Trading Volume

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Market Snapshot: Overnight Moves

Daily Updates:

• Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a second straight day of net outflows on Wednesday, with net outflows of roughly $124.55M, despite fresh inflows into Morgan Stanley’s launched MSBT.
• BTC is currently trading around $71.5K, broadly flat after trading as high as $72.7K yesterday.

• The S&P 500 closed at 6,782.81, up 2.51%, while broader US equities also rallied sharply, with the Nasdaq up 2.8% and the Dow up 2.9%.
• The biggest macro swing was in energy, where oil plunged on the US-Iran ceasefire headlines.
• Brent was trading near $92.28, down 15.5%, while WTI finished around $96.28, down 15%, marking one of the sharpest one-day drops since 2020. 

• Oil industry executives are pressing the White House to reject any proposal that would allow Iran to charge tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, warning that the plan would raise shipping and insurance costs, create potential sanctions risks, and set a dangerous precedent for other strategic trade routes.
• The FT report says industry representatives have been lobbying senior US officials, arguing that Iran’s proposed $2M-per-ship charge could add roughly $2.5M to each shipment once higher insurance costs are included, with those costs ultimately passed on to consumers. 
• They also say that Iran is seeking payments in BTC or yuan as part of an effort to bypass dollar-based systems during the ceasefire.

• Yesterday, the minutes for the March 17-18 FOMC meeting  were released and they largely confirmed the message already delivered at the meeting – the Fed remains cautious, sees inflation as still too high, and is keeping policy flexible rather than leaning decisively toward easing.
• On inflation, the minutes showed that headline PCE was 2.8% in January, core PCE was 3.1%, and staff estimated core PCE at 3.0% in February, while the “vast majority of participants” said progress back to 2% could be “slower than previously expected.”
• On rates, while many participants still thought cuts would likely become appropriate over time, some argued there was “a strong case for a two-sided description” of future decisions, reflecting the possibility that “upward adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate could be appropriate if inflation were to remain at above-target levels,” with all participants agreeing policy was “not on a preset course” and would be set “on a meeting-by-meeting basis.”
• On the labour side, the minutes stated a more cautious tone than last week’s March payrolls report might suggest - although nonfarm payrolls rose by 178,000 and unemployment was 4.3%, officials continued to emphasise that job gains had remained low, and the “vast majority of participants” judged that risks to the employment side of the mandate were skewed to the downside, warning that in a low-hiring environment the labour market remained vulnerable to adverse shocks.

• Morgan Stanley’s spot bitcoin ETF, MSBT, launched on Wednesday, recorded $34M in first-day trading volume.
• According to Yahoo Finance data, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust saw 1,658,176 shares change hands on the day and closed at $20.47 per share, broadly in line with its net asset value (NAV), which, given underlying fund holdings of approximately 444.4 BTC (currently valued around $31.65M), works out at about $20.42.
• The fund also entered the market with a 0.14% sponsor fee, making it the lowest bitcoin ETP sponsor fee as of its release.

• Canary Capital filed a Form S-1 with the SEC today, seeking to launch the first spot PEPE ETF.
• Structured as a spot ETF, the trust would hold physical PEPE tokens rather than derivatives, with a custodian safeguarding the assets, and could also allocate up to 5% of holdings to ETH to cover network transaction fees.

• Polygon Labs is reportedly in talks to raise between $50M and $100M in equity for a new stablecoin payments business, according to The Information.
• The new venture is expected to be led by Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron and would deepen the firm’s push into one of the fastest-growing areas of digital assets, with stablecoins increasingly used for cross-border settlement and payments infrastructure. 

• The SEC has appointed David Woodcock as the new director of its Division of Enforcement, replacing the agency’s previous enforcement lead.
• In announcing the move, the SEC highlighted Woodcock’s prior experience at the agency, including his role as director of the SEC’s Fort Worth office from 2011 to 2015, where he oversaw enforcement and examination staff across a broad range of investigations.
• Woodcock’s return comes at a sensitive moment for the agency, with SEC Chair Paul Atkins saying he was “incredibly pleased” to have Woodcock rejoin the SEC “at this critical time” as the agency continues to focus on misconduct that causes the greatest harm to investors.

• Visa has launched Intelligent Commerce Connect, a new solution aimed at helping businesses plug into AI-driven shopping through a single integration.
• Built on the Visa Acceptance Platform, it supports secure agent-initiated payments, tokenisation, authentication, and spend controls across both Visa and non-Visa cards.
• The product is already being piloted with partners including AWS, Aldar, Mesh and Payabli, with a wider rollout planned later this year.
• Visa said the launch is designed to help businesses securely accept purchases made by AI agents at scale.

• According to Reuters, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged Congress to pass crypto market structure legislation, arguing that a clear federal framework is needed to keep digital asset innovation and investment in the United States.
• Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Bessent backed the “Clarity Act”, saying regulatory uncertainty has pushed a growing share of crypto development to jurisdictions such as Abu Dhabi and Singapore, where firms have clearer rules on registration and operations. 

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