Benzinga | Feb 13, 2021 03:12PM EST

Morgan Stanley's $150 Billion Investment Unit Thinking About Getting In On Bitcoin Action: Bloomberg

Counterpoint Global, a $150 billion investment unit under Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), could be jumping into Bitcoin.

What Happened: Counterpoint is considering making bets on Bitcoin as pressure mounts on investment firms to provide exposure as investors watch the cryptocurrency skyrocket, Bloomberg has reported, citing anonymous sources.

The move would require regulatory approval, and Counterpoint still could decide not to make the move, Bloomberg noted.

Why It Matters: This would mark another high-profile move into the cryptocurrency, which is seeing a run that shows no signs of stopping.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) this week said it invested $1.5 billion into Bitcoin and will soon start accepting the cryptocurrency as payment. Similarly, firms like Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE:BK) and Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) have shown interest in the cryptocurrency.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC: GBTC), a popular investment vehicle to gain exposure to Bitcoin, is up 39.42% year to date.

Things have changed quite a bit since 2017, when, amid Bitcoin's earlier historic rise, a Morgan Stanley analyst said the real value of the Bitcoin was zero. At that time the Bitcoin was trading at about $16,000, then an all-time high. Bitcoin is now trading at about $47,000, near its latest historic highs.