Catenaa, Saturday, March 07, 2026-Morgan Stanley has filed for a national trust bank charter to hold cryptocurrencies and offer related services for US clients, signaling an expansion into regulated digital asset infrastructure.
The application, submitted February 18 under the name Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association, would allow the firm to provide custody, trading, swaps, transfers, and staking services for selected digital assets.
The trust charter, if approved, would establish a new banking entity rather than acquiring an existing institution, enabling Morgan Stanley to safeguard client crypto directly instead of relying on third-party custodians.
The move aligns with broader institutional efforts to secure federal oversight amid increasing demand for regulated custody and trading infrastructure following years of market volatility and high-profile exchange failures.
Morgan Stanley has steadily expanded its digital asset operations. In January, the bank appointed Amy Oldenburg, formerly an equity markets executive, to lead a newly formed crypto division.
Regulatory filings also show plans for spot Bitcoin, Solana, and staked Ether ETFs, highlighting a strategy to integrate digital assets into traditional wealth management offerings.
Other institutions, including Stripe-owned Bridge and Crypto.com, have pursued similar national trust charters, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved charters last December for BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Circle, Ripple, and Paxos.
These approvals indicate growing federal recognition of trust banks as a regulated vehicle for custody, conversion, and settlement services, particularly for stablecoins and institutional crypto holdings.
Morgan Stanley’s filing could position the bank as a full-service provider for institutional digital asset clients, combining custody, trading, staking, and ETF offerings under a federally supervised framework.
