Morgan Stanley said it is accelerating its Bitcoin and crypto strategy as part of a long-term push to modernise financial infrastructure rather than reacting to market hype.
The bank has expanded from offering indirect crypto exposure to wealthy clients to supporting spot Bitcoin ETFs on its E*Trade platform and filing to launch its own fund.
“We’ve been on a journey around the entire modernisation of financial infrastructure for years,”
Said Morgan Stanley digital assets head, Amy Oldenburg.
The firm plans to introduce tokenised equities on its alternative trading system in the second half of 2026, signalling deeper integration of blockchain into traditional markets.
Oldenburg said challenges remain around upgrading legacy systems and coordinating global banking infrastructure, adding;
“We can’t just primarily rent the technology to do this… people expect Morgan Stanley… to be no fail.”
Morgan Stanley’s proposed Bitcoin Trust would hold BTC directly and trade under the ticker MSBT, joining a growing $120 billion spot ETF market alongside firms such as BlackRock and Fidelity.
Institutional adoption continues to build despite market volatility, with stablecoins and faster settlement tools gaining traction as Wall Street gradually integrates crypto into its core systems.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $70,597.18.