Morgan Stanley is partnering with cryptocurrency infrastructure provider Zerohash to let E*Trade clients trade popular coins beginning in the first half of next year.
The firm will start with major cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, according to Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley’s head of wealth management. Allowing clients to trade coins is just “phase one,” he said, adding that the firm will next seek to build a full wallet solution for clients.
“The underlying technology has been proven and blockchain-based infrastructure is obviously here to stay,” Finn said in an interview. “Clients should have access to digitized assets, traditional assets and cryptocurrencies, all in the same ecosystem that they’re used to.”
Morgan Stanley’s partnership marks the latest in a series of efforts by big banks to make inroads in digital assets after a dramatic shift in regulatory policy when President Donald Trump took office earlier this year. Bloomberg News reported in May that Morgan Stanley was working on a plan to add crypto trading to its E*Trade platform, and other firms including Charles Schwab Corp. have outlined similar offerings.
For rivals already in the space, it’s been lucrative. Robinhood Markets Inc., which has let clients trade crypto for more than a half decade, pulled in $626 million from that business last year — or 21% of its total net revenue.
