Morgan Stanley tells wealth advisors they can pitch bitcoin ETFs in a first for a big bank

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Morgan Stanley on Friday told its army of financial advisors that it will soon allow them to offer bitcoin ETFs to some clients, a first among major Wall Street banks, CNBC has learned.

The firm's 15,000 or so financial advisors can solicit eligible clients to purchase shares of two exchange-traded bitcoin funds starting Wednesday, according to people with knowledge of the policy.

Those funds are BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, the people said.

The move from Morgan Stanley, one of the world's largest wealth management firms, is the latest sign of the adoption of bitcoin by mainstream finance. In January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved applications for 11 spot bitcoin ETFs, heralding the arrival of an investment vehicle for bitcoin that is easier to access, cheaper to own and more readily traded.

Bitcoin has weathered market sell-offs, the spectacular collapse of crypto exchange FTX and criticism from the most established figures in finance including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett.

So it's not surprising that Wall Street's major wealth management businesses didn't immediately embrace the new ETFs, forbidding their financial advisors from pitching them and only allowing trades if clients actively sought out the product.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo still follow that policy, according to spokespeople at the four banks.

Morgan Stanley made the move in response to demand from clients and in an attempt to follow an evolving marketplace for digital assets, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about the bank's internal policies.

The bank is still striking a note