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Morgan Stanley Confirms Bitcoin Push: Trading, Yield, Custody

Morgan Stanley is getting ready to broaden 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 Strategy World 2026 in Las Vegas by Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley’s head of digital asset technique, throughout a dialogue with Strategy President and CEO Phong Le on the Bitcoin for Corporations convention.

From ‘Renting’ Bitcoin Rails To Building Them

Oldenburg framed Morgan Stanley’s near-term step as enabling E*TRADE clients to “purchase and promote crypto, spot crypto,” through a partnership, earlier than probably shifting to “a local custody and trade answer” over the subsequent yr. She prompt that will 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 stated, comes down to regulate, belief, and legal responsibility. “It’s a pure. We really want to construct this out internally. We can’t simply primarily lease the know-how to do that,” she stated. “People count on Morgan Stanley, they belief our model, to be no-fail. And once you sit in that place, you’ve got a big accountability to your shoppers to just remember to’re delivering that in any degree of know-how.”

For Morgan Stanley, custody is not only one other characteristic within the product guidelines, it modifications the financial institution’s function and accountability. “It’s a completely totally different surroundings to know that you’re custodying your property,” Oldenburg continued. “You have authorized custody with Morgan Stanley, and Morgan Stanley is overseeing these property for you. There’s all the time these which can be going to wish to self-custody. That’s a pure a part of this area, particularly within the Bitcoin area.”

Oldenburg additionally positioned the push as a response to consumer conduct: crypto wealth exists, however not essentially the place Morgan Stanley can serve it. With “$8 trillion in property on platform,” Le pressed the industrial logic that “individuals have crypto property off platform.” Oldenburg agreed and characterised the pool as materials, saying it’s “a substantial quantity” of “present shoppers.”

Oldenburg linked her considering on adoption again to her prior profession operating 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 firms and traders and customers of cryptocurrencies early on,” she stated, including that the purpose now’s to supply companies as crypto “continues to mainstream and institutionalize.”

Oldenburg confirmed that yield and lending in opposition to Bitcoin are usually not theoretical subjects contained in the agency. Asked straight whether or not Morgan Stanley may supply “yield and lending companies in opposition to that Bitcoin,” she replied: “Absolutely. 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 believe we’re in a really early journey on that, simply when it comes to the variety of merchandise which can be out available in the market,” she stated. “I believe we’ve seen, even this yr, a little bit bit stunned at how a lot momentum there may be round DeFi lending.”

In October final yr, Morgan Stanley classified Bitcoin as “digital gold,” citing its fastened provide, decentralized structure, and perceived function as a hedge in opposition to macroeconomic instability. The agency additionally really helpful a 2%–4% allocation to digital property.

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $68,138.

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