Morgan Stanley, the investment bank overseeing roughly $9 trillion in client assets as of February 2026, confirmed it will build a proprietary Bitcoin custody and exchange platform rather than rely on third-party infrastructure. Amy Oldenburg, the firm's head of digital assets strategy, made the announcement at Strategy's Bitcoin for Corporations conference in Las Vegas on February 26, telling Strategy CEO Phong Le that the bank sees custody, trading, yield, and lending as the full roadmap.
"We really need to build this out internally," Oldenburg said. "We can't just primarily rent the technology."
The remarks come as E-Trade, Morgan Stanley's retail brokerage arm with more than 5 million active accounts and approximately $360 billion in assets, prepares to launch spot crypto trading in the first half of 2026.
From ETF Access to Direct Ownership
Morgan Stanley's crypto journey has been incremental. The firm began offering Bitcoin ETF access to its 15,000+ financial advisors in August 2024, then dropped restrictions on which wealth management clients could access crypto funds in October 2025. In January 2026, it filed for an Ethereum ETF with the SEC, followed by Bitcoin and Solana fund registrations the following month.
But ETF wrappers carry management fees, limited trading hours, and no on-chain utility. The next step, spot crypto trading through E-Trade, eliminates the wrapper entirely. Clients will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana directly through their brokerage accounts, with Zerohash handling liquidity, custody, and settlement as the infrastructure partner. Morgan Stanley also took an equity stake in Zerohash, signaling this is not a trial run.
Jed Finn, head of wealth management at Morgan Stanley, stated in a September 2025 memo: "We are well underway in preparing to offer crypto trading through a partner model to E-Trade clients in the first half of 2026."
Why the Bank Wants to Own the Stack
The Zerohash partnership is a bridge, not a destination. Oldenburg made clear that Morgan Stanley intends to build native custody and exchange capabilities within the year, a move that would position it as the first major U.S. bank to offer that combination in-house.
The logic is straightforward. Morgan Stanley operates in 17 of the top 20 countries by crypto adoption. A "considerable number" of its clients already hold crypto off-platform, according to Oldenburg, meaning the bank is watching assets it could service flow to competitors like Coinbase, Kraken, and self-custody wallets. Building internal infrastructure pulls those assets back onto the Morgan Stanley platform, where the firm can layer on advisory, yield, and lending services.
"People expect Morgan Stanley; they trust our brand to be no-fail," Oldenburg said, framing the internal build as a brand-trust requirement rather than a cost optimization.
The bank currently recommends clients allocate 2-4% of their portfolios to Bitcoin, a figure that translates to $180 billion to $360 billion in potential crypto exposure across its $9 trillion asset base.
Yield and Lending on the Roadmap
Beyond custody and trading, Oldenburg confirmed that yield and lending products are under active exploration. She described yield services as "a natural part of the roadmap" while acknowledging the bank is "very early in the journey."
The timing matters. Bitcoin lending collapsed after the 2022 implosions of Celsius, BlockFi, and Genesis, but institutional demand for crypto yield has rebounded through regulated channels. Coinbase offers USDC yield through its platform. Nexo and Crypto.com provide interest on deposited crypto. If Morgan Stanley enters lending, it would be the first Wall Street bank to do so, and would likely face a different regulatory framework than crypto-native lenders.
For the crypto card space, this is a signal. A bank managing $9 trillion in assets moving into crypto custody, yield, and lending validates the same thesis that card issuers like ether.fi and Nexo have built their products around: users want to hold crypto AND spend it, earn yield AND access liquidity, all without moving assets off-platform.
What E-Trade Clients Actually Get
The immediate deliverable is simpler than the grand vision. E-Trade's 5 million accounts will gain the ability to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana at spot prices through the existing brokerage interface. Zerohash handles the backend. Clients get direct ownership of the underlying crypto, not an ETF wrapper, though Zerohash provides custody rather than self-custody.
This is meaningful for US-based crypto users who currently juggle separate exchange accounts alongside their brokerage. A single E-Trade login for both equities and crypto removes friction, though it also concentrates counterparty risk in one institution.
The three initial assets, BTC, ETH, and SOL, mirror the same trio Morgan Stanley filed ETFs for, suggesting the firm views these as the investable core of the asset class.
The Competitive Landscape Shifts
Morgan Stanley is not the only bank moving. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon confirmed personal Bitcoin ownership in early 2026. Citi and TD appeared alongside Morgan Stanley at the Bitcoin for Corporations conference discussing how banks are building the next generation of financial rails. The OCC's recent proposed rulemaking on the GENIUS Act gives national banks a clearer path to issue stablecoins and custody digital assets.
But Morgan Stanley is further along than most. It has the ETF filings, the E-Trade distribution channel, the Zerohash partnership live, and now a public commitment to build in-house custody and exchange. That sequence, from fund wrappers to spot trading to native infrastructure, is the playbook other banks will likely follow over the next 12 to 24 months.
For the existing crypto infrastructure, the implications are mixed. Exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance may lose some retail flow to E-Trade, but could gain from Morgan Stanley integrating their custody or liquidity networks. Self-custody cards remain differentiated because no bank, Morgan Stanley included, is likely to offer spend-from-your-own-wallet products anytime soon.
FAQ
When does E-Trade launch crypto trading? Morgan Stanley has said the first half of 2026. The partnership with Zerohash for liquidity, custody, and settlement is already in place.
Which cryptocurrencies will be available on E-Trade? Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana at launch. Morgan Stanley has not announced plans for additional tokens.
Will Morgan Stanley offer Bitcoin lending? Amy Oldenburg confirmed yield and lending are under exploration but described the bank as "very early in the journey." No launch date has been announced.
Does this affect crypto card users? Not directly, but it signals institutional validation of holding, spending, and earning yield on crypto, the same thesis behind crypto debit and credit cards.
Overview
Morgan Stanley confirmed at Strategy's Bitcoin for Corporations conference on February 26 that it will build a native Bitcoin custody and exchange platform in-house, moving beyond its current Zerohash partnership model. E-Trade's 5 million accounts will gain spot crypto trading (BTC, ETH, SOL) in the first half of 2026, with yield and lending products on the longer-term roadmap. The $9 trillion wealth manager framed the internal build as a brand-trust requirement, and if successful, it would become the first major U.S. bank to offer combined crypto custody and exchange services.
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- Goldman Sachs CEO Solomon Owns Bitcoin, Bank Crypto Expansion and Tokenization in 2026
