Morgan Stanley is getting ready to increase its Bitcoin and crypto providing past easy entry, with plans that span spot buying and selling on E*TRADE, a longer-term transfer towards native custody and an inner trade stack, and early-stage exploration of yield and lending companies backed by Bitcoin.
The roadmap was outlined onstage at Technique World 2026 in Las Vegas by Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley’s head of digital asset technique, throughout a dialogue with Technique President and CEO Phong Le on the Bitcoin for Firms convention.
From ‘Renting’ Bitcoin Rails To Constructing Them
Oldenburg framed Morgan Stanley’s near-term step as enabling E*TRADE purchasers to “purchase and promote crypto, spot crypto,” through a partnership, earlier than doubtlessly transferring to “a local custody and trade answer” over the subsequent yr. She advised that may put Morgan Stanley in place to be “the primary main financial institution” to supply that mixture in-house.
Oldenburg requested why the custody-and-exchange layer issues strategically. The reply, she mentioned, comes down to regulate, belief, and legal responsibility. “It’s a pure. We actually must construct this out internally. We are able to’t simply primarily lease the expertise to do that,” she mentioned. “Folks anticipate Morgan Stanley, they belief our model, to be no-fail. And whenever you sit in that place, you’ve gotten a major accountability to your purchasers to just remember to’re delivering that in any degree of expertise.”
For Morgan Stanley, custody is not only one other characteristic within the product guidelines, it adjustments the financial institution’s position and accountability. “It’s a completely totally different atmosphere to know that you’re custodying your property,” Oldenburg continued. “You have got authorized custody with Morgan Stanley, and Morgan Stanley is overseeing these property for you. There’s all the time these which might be going to need to self-custody. That’s a pure a part of this house, particularly within the Bitcoin house.”
Oldenburg additionally positioned the push as a response to consumer habits: crypto wealth exists, however not essentially the place Morgan Stanley can serve it. With “$8 trillion in property on platform,” Le pressed the business logic that “individuals have crypto property off platform.” Oldenburg agreed and characterised the pool as materials, saying it’s “a substantial quantity” of “present purchasers.”
Oldenburg linked her pondering on adoption again to her prior profession working Morgan Stanley’s rising markets investing enterprise, arguing she has watched Bitcoin and crypto utilization develop up shut for years. “This has been a really, very lengthy journey for me, being on the bottom with many of those corporations and buyers and customers of cryptocurrencies early on,” she mentioned, including that the purpose now’s to supply companies as crypto “continues to mainstream and institutionalize.”
Morgan Stanley’s new Head of Digital Asset Technique confirms the financial institution is constructing out Bitcoin buying and selling, lending, yield, and custody companies. pic.twitter.com/v1qrS2MQ4t
— TFTC (@TFTC21) February 25, 2026
Oldenburg confirmed that yield and lending in opposition to Bitcoin should not theoretical matters contained in the agency. Requested immediately whether or not Morgan Stanley may supply “yield and lending companies in opposition to that Bitcoin,” she replied: “Completely. That’s a part of the dialogue and the exploration. It’s a pure a part of the roadmap to proceed to discover.”
She added that the financial institution continues to be early in designing these merchandise, whereas noting renewed exercise in onchain credit score markets. “I feel we’re in a really early journey on that, simply by way of the variety of merchandise which might be out out there,” she mentioned. “I feel we’ve seen, even this yr, slightly bit stunned at how a lot momentum there’s round DeFi lending.”
In October final yr, Morgan Stanley categorized Bitcoin as “digital gold,” citing its fastened provide, decentralized structure, and perceived position as a hedge in opposition to macroeconomic instability. The agency additionally advisable a 2%–4% allocation to digital property.
At press time, Bitcoin traded at $68,138.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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