One of the largest investment banks in the world is taking a new step towards the crypto market. Morgan Stanley is working on plans to build its own crypto platform.
The American financial giant no longer wants to offer digital currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) only through partners, but integrate them directly within its own organization.
Morgan Stanley wants to set up a complete crypto infrastructure
Morgan Stanley announced that it wants to significantly expand its digital activities. The bank no longer wants to offer crypto services through external parties, but wants to develop a fully integrated platform itself. The news was shared at the Strategy World 2026 conference.
This step means that E*TRADE customers will soon be able to buy and sell crypto directly. E*TRADE has been part of Morgan Stanley since 2020. The bank acquired the platform at the time for approximately $13 billion.
E*TRADE still has its own name and environment, but is fully part of the Morgan Stanley group. This will soon make it easier for customers to purchase crypto within the same banking environment.
Amy Oldenburg, head of digital strategy at Morgan Stanley, cites the global growth of crypto as a key reason for the expansion. “Now that this market is becoming more mature and more and more large parties are joining us, we want to offer our customers a complete range of services,” says Oldenburg.
Own custody for Bitcoin and other crypto
Morgan Stanley then wants to develop a fully integrated platform for trading and custody. This means that the bank itself builds the technology and arranges the storage of digital coins, instead of purchasing those services from other companies.
“We can’t just rent other people’s technology to make this happen. People expect Morgan Stanley, they trust our brand, to have everything work flawlessly,” Oldenburg said during a conversation at Strategy World.
For many traditional investors, this is an important step. They want certainty that their crypto is kept safe and that everything is properly arranged legally. At the same time, the bank sees that some crypto investors prefer to manage their coins themselves. They opt for their own management, where they store crypto with a personal digital key.
Why this step is being taken now
The bank manages approximately $8 trillion in assets. Yet many customers still keep their crypto outside the bank, at specialized exchanges or in their own wallets.
By bringing that crypto to its own platform, Morgan Stanley can do more than just enable trading. The bank can also offer additional services such as products that allow customers to receive interest on their crypto, or loans where crypto serves as collateral.
Crypto is also being taken more seriously on Wall Street. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan states that major banks and asset managers are investing heavily in tokenization, where traditional assets such as stocks and bonds are digitally recorded on a blockchain.
Source: https://newsbit.nl/morgan-stanley-verrast-wall-street-met-crypto-plan/
