Morgan Stanley Joins Broader Wall Street Shift Toward Integrated Crypto Services
- Morgan Stanley moves crypto from research to execution as regulation clears paths for banks.
- ETF access and planned E*TRADE trading show crypto shifting into core wealth platforms.
- Tokenization and digital wallets position the bank for long-term institutional adoption.
Morgan Stanley is speeding up its shift into digital assets, reflecting a broader turn on Wall Street where crypto is moving out of the margins and into regulated financial infrastructure. The bank, which oversees roughly $9.3 trillion in client assets, is no longer treating the sector as a side experiment.
Its recent steps point toward full integration; research, trading, issuance, and long-term product design now sit under one expanding strategy. Regulatory clarity in the United States has played a central role in that pivot. Rules around ETFs and stablecoin oversight have matured enough to give major banks room to build without wandering outside compliance lanes.
However, the pressure is also competitive. With peers steadily layering crypto capabilities across wealth management and institutional desks, Morgan Stanley is racing to match scale and meet client demand that has grown more persistent than the industry once expected.
Morgan Stanley: From Research Desk to Active Execution
A key signal of the bank’s shift came with the appointment of Amy Oldenburg as Head of Digital Asset Strategy. Her remit covers product development, trading coordination, and external partnerships, functions that were once scattered across different units.
Consolidating them suggests the bank is moving past the observational phase and into execution with clearer ownership and fewer internal silos. The timing was not incidental. The Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF recently became available on Morgan Stanley’s platform, widening regulated Bitcoin exposure to more than $7.4 trillion in advisor-managed assets.
Initially, advisors had been allowed to recommend spot Bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock and Fidelity to select high-net-worth clients in 2024. Yet, by early 2025, those limits fell away, extending access across the firm’s broader wealth business, including retirement accounts.
Expanding Trading and Product Offerings
Notably, the firm’s roadmap shows a deliberate expansion of capabilities rather than a sudden break. In September 2025, Morgan Stanley confirmed plans to bring direct crypto trading to E*TRADE.
The rollout, slated for the first half of 2026, is expected to include Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana within the same regulated environment used for equities and listed options. That push runs alongside a new slate of product filings.
The bank has sought approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for proprietary spot ETFs tied to Bitcoin, Solana, and Ethereum. The business case is not theoretical: Bitcoin ETFs have now amassed more than $114 billion in assets, turning issuance into a substantial revenue line.
The bank also filed for a staked Ethereum ETF designed to distribute staking rewards to investors, a sign that institutions are moving deeper into yield-bearing digital assets rather than staying at the surface.
Wall Street Momentum Builds
Morgan Stanley’s activity fits into a wider institutional trend. JPMorgan has explored using Bitcoin and Ether as collateral for large-scale lending. On the other hand, UBS is preparing to open crypto trading to select private banking clients.
Not to leave out, Citigroup continues to advance custody and digital-asset platform development. Industry trackers note that roughly 60% of the top 25 U.S. banks now offer or are preparing to offer Bitcoin-related services.
Related: Tether Unveils USA₮, Its First Fully Regulated U.S. Dollar Stablecoin
Building Toward Tokenization and Digital Wallets
The firm is also laying the groundwork for a later transformation. Engineers are developing an institutional digital wallet expected in late 2026, designed to hold both conventional portfolios and tokenized assets ranging from real estate to government bonds.
Analysts project the tokenized real-world asset market could expand to nearly $16 trillion by decade’s end. With ETF distribution, direct trading, proprietary issuance, and tokenization all moving in parallel, Morgan Stanley appears committed to embedding digital assets into mainstream investment architecture.
The strategy leans on scale, regulatory discipline, and long-term integration, an approach increasingly shared across Wall Street as crypto settles into the financial system rather than orbiting around it.
