In brief
- Morgan Stanley is planning to offer crypto trading on its E*Trade platform early next year.
- The banking giant is teaming with crypto and stablecoin infrastructure provider Zerohash on the initiative.
- Investors will be able initially to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
Morgan Stanley is joining with crypto and stablecoin infrastructure firm Zerohash to enable customers of the Wall Street giant’s E*Trade online brokerage platform to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, the company confirmed to Decrypt on Tuesday.
New York-based Morgan Stanley may expand to other digital assets and is planning to offer wallet services. The bank referred Decrypt to an article by Bloomberg, which first reported the news. Crypto trading services are expected to begin in the first half of 2026, according to the report.
“The underlying technology has been proven and blockchain-based infrastructure is obviously here to stay,” Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley’s head of wealth management, told Bloomberg. “Clients should have access to digitized assets, traditional assets, and cryptocurrencies, all in the same ecosystem that they’re used to.”
Morgan Stanley has been among a number of traditional finance firms aiming to bolster their crypto offerings in recent years. In January, the firm’s CEO and Chairman Ted Pick told CNBC that the bank would work with regulators to see how they could offer crypto services safely.
Last year, Morgan Stanley greenlit financial advisors promoting the then-fledgling spot Bitcoin ETFs to clients, and in 2021 offered wealthy clients access to Bitcoin investment funds.
In its second quarter this year, online trading platform Robinhood generated $160 million in crypto trading revenue during the second quarter, a 98% increase from a year ago, despite headwinds from U.S. President Donald Trump’s global trade war.
Last year, brokerage and advisory Charles Schwab’s then incoming CEO Rick Wurster said that the firm planned to enter the spot crypto market once U.S. regulations provided clearer pathways. Schwab currently offers exposure to crypto via ETFs and mutual funds.
In a statement shared with Decrypt, Zerohash CEO Edward Woodford said that “Morgan Stanley’s strategic stake in Zerohash underscores the critical role infrastructure plays… in digital finance.”
“This partnership represents a major step forward in bringing digital asset technology into the mainstream, and we’re proud to unlock its potential for institutions and their clients around the world,” Woodford said.
In a statement, Zerohash CFO Adam Berg said that financial giants are lining up to dive into crypto.
“Every financial institution is looking to provide access to the crypto asset class and innovate with this technology at scale,” said Berg. “I’ve recently met with multiple large bank CEOs and financial services executives, many of whom said that they are spending more than 50% of their time driving on-chain innovation at their firms.”
Separately, Morgan Stanley was among multiple investors to participate in a $104 million Series D venture capital round for Hashdex, according to a press release.
Hashdex has raised a total of $275 million over multiple rounds. Brokerage Interactive Brokers led the latest round, with participation from SoFi and Jump Crypto along with Morgan Stanley and others.
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