Morgan Stanley is making 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 change stack, and early-stage exploration of yield and lending providers 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 Companies convention.
From ‘Renting’ Bitcoin Rails To Constructing Them
Oldenburg framed Morgan Stanley’s near-term step as enabling E*TRADE shoppers to “purchase and promote crypto, spot crypto,” through a partnership, earlier than probably shifting to “a local custody and change answer” over the following 12 months. She urged that might 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 manage, belief, and legal responsibility. “It’s a pure. We actually must construct this out internally. We will’t simply primarily hire the expertise to do that,” she stated. “Folks count on Morgan Stanley, they belief our model, to be no-fail. And while you sit in that place, you might have a big accountability to your shoppers to just remember to’re delivering that in any stage of expertise.”
For Morgan Stanley, custody isn’t just one other characteristic within the product guidelines, it modifications the financial institution’s position and accountability. “It’s a completely completely different atmosphere to know that you’re custodying your property,” Oldenburg continued. “You’ve got authorized custody with Morgan Stanley, and Morgan Stanley is overseeing these property for you. There’s at all times these which can be going to need 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 habits: 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 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 firms and buyers and customers of cryptocurrencies early on,” she stated, including that the purpose now’s to offer providers 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 providers. pic.twitter.com/v1qrS2MQ4t
— TFTC (@TFTC21) February 25, 2026
Oldenburg confirmed that yield and lending towards Bitcoin are usually not theoretical matters contained in the agency. Requested straight whether or not Morgan Stanley may provide “yield and lending providers towards 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 believe we’re in a really early journey on that, simply by way of the variety of merchandise which can be out available in the market,” she stated. “I believe we’ve seen, even this 12 months, just a little bit stunned at how a lot momentum there’s round DeFi lending.”
In October final 12 months, Morgan Stanley labeled Bitcoin as “digital gold,” citing its fastened provide, decentralized structure, and perceived position as a hedge towards macroeconomic instability. The agency additionally really useful 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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