Morgan Stanley is preparing to roll out crypto trading for retail customers via its E-Trade platform in the first half of 2026, according to an internal memo. The bank is partnering with startup Zerohash for liquidity, custody, and settlement, and has also taken an equity stake in the firm.
Initially, trading will cover bitcoin, ether, and solana, moving beyond the bank’s earlier approach of offering bitcoin funds to wealthy clients. Wealth management head Jed Finn called the initiative “the tip of the iceberg,” saying Morgan Stanley plans to integrate digital assets with traditional wealth products. The bank is also developing a wallet to directly hold client digital assets and envisions tokenized versions of cash, stocks, bonds, and real estate as a future growth area.
This marks one of the most aggressive pushes into crypto by a major U.S. bank since Washington’s stance shifted under President Trump, with tokenization expected to significantly disrupt wealth management.
