$1.3 Trillion Morgan Stanley To Offer Crypto Trading Starting 2026

Wall Street giant, Morgan Stanley, has partnered with a digital asset infrastructure provider, Zerohash, to offer crypto trading services. The firm disclosed this in a memo from its head of wealth management, Jed Finn.

The move will finally allow Morgan Stanley retail customers direct access to cryptocurrencies. As part of the plan, it is also working on a plan for a wallet where the customers can custody their assets.

Plan is to offer Crypto Trading through the E-Trade Platform

According to the memo, as reported by CNBC, the company will offer the service through its E-Trade platform. It is expected to be available within the first half of 2026.

Finn said:

The investment bank acquired the platform in 2020 in a $13 Billion deal. At the time, it wanted to boost its online trading capabilities and gain access to retail investors. With 10 million customers using E-Trade, it has achieved its goal.

These customers will now have access to crypto trading for the first time. Morgan Stanley already offers Bitcoin funds to its high-net-worth clients and is one of the biggest pro-crypto banks.

It already allows customers with over $1.5 Million in assets access to BlackRock and Fidelity Bitcoin ETFs. Interestingly, the firm plans to only offer Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana for trading once it launches.

However, there is a likelihood that other assets and services would be included in due time. Finn stated in the memo that the ability to trade crypto is merely the tip of an iceberg in the firm’s plans.

More US Banks Offering Crypto and Blockchain Services

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley’s offering of crypto trading highlights how Wall Street giants are getting involved with crypto. This is primarily due to the change in the regulatory environment since President Donald Trump’s election.

With the crypto sector finally getting regulatory clarity, interest from traditional finance heavyweights has increased. The decision of US banking regulators to withdraw multiple restrictive guidance statements on crypto is crucial to this.

A recent report by River shows that 13 out of the top 25 US banks have made inroads into crypto in one form or another. This includes the US brokerage firm Charles Schwab. This enables access to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

PNC Bank also partnered with Coinbase a few months ago. The partnership allows wealthy clients to buy and trade crypto in exchange for their PNC account.

BNY Mellon has emerged as a major custodian for crypto service providers. Others, such as JPMorgan, State Street, and Citi, also tap into crypto services.

Even online brokerage platform Robinhood has emerged as one of the significant places to trade crypto. Unlike most banks that only provide access to BTC and ETH, Robinhood lists several other tokens.

Morgan Stanley Eyeing Tokenization

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley is also planning to offer tokenization services. Finn said this in the memo. He noted that tokenization could greatly impact the wealth management sector.

Finn wrote:

The executive noted that tokenized assets could increase capital efficiency because they start paying interest immediately. He believes that this could lead to several asset classes embracing tokenization.

Interestingly, another traditional finance executive who is bullish on tokenization is BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. Fink believes every asset can be tokenized and sees it as the next stage of investing.