Morgan Stanley Files For Bank Charter To Offer Crypto Custody And Staking Services — Report

bitcoinistPublished on 2026-02-28Last updated on 2026-02-28

Abstract

Morgan Stanley has filed an application for a national bank charter to offer crypto custody, trading, and staking services through its subsidiary, Morgan Stanley Digital Trust. This move, reported on February 27th, follows the firm's recent strategic push into digital assets, including filing for Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana ETFs and appointing a head of digital asset strategy. The bank aims to provide these services across the U.S., with its main office in New York. This development reflects a broader trend of Wall Street firms expanding into crypto amid growing regulatory support. Meanwhile, the global crypto market cap has declined over 2% to $2.34 trillion.

In a significant move, Morgan Stanley has submitted an application for a new national bank charter that will enable it to offer crypto custody and staking services. This report comes days after the recently appointed head of digital asset strategy, Amy Oldenburg, confirmed the financial services giant’s digital asset push.

Morgan Stanley Continues To Bet On Digital Asset Industry With Fresh OCC Filing

According to a Bloomberg report on Friday, February 27th, Morgan Stanley filed for a de novo national trust bank charter to allow it custody digital assets. The Wall Street behemoth said in its application that the charter will also be used to conduct crypto trading and staking for its investment clients.

Bloomberg reported that the application, through Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, was filed on February 18th, according to the website of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The firm will offer its digital asset management services throughout the United States, with its main office in Purchase, New York, the filing showed.

This move reinforces Morgan Stanley’s strategic push for crypto and the broader digital asset industry. Earlier in January, the financial services giant filed for Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, while also forging a new head of digital-asset strategy role for Oldenburg.

As reported by Bitcoinist, Oldenburg revealed that Morgan Stanley’s near-term goal is to enable E*Trade clients to buy and sell spot crypto, initially via a partnership before possibly moving to a native custody and exchange solution.

Oldenburg said about crypto custody:

It’s a totally different environment to know that you are custodying your assets,” Oldenburg continued. “You have legal custody with Morgan Stanley, and Morgan Stanley is overseeing those assets for you. There’s always those that are going to want to self-custody. That’s a natural part of this space, especially in the Bitcoin space.

Morgan Stanley’s recent moves highlight a growing trend since the start of President Donald Trump’s latest administration, especially among Wall Street firms, as they soften their crypto stance and venture into the digital asset industry. The United States president has been a vocal supporter of the crypto industry, while pushing for regulatory clarity in the space.

Crypto Market Capitalization Takes A Tumble

As of this writing, the global cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $2.34 trillion, reflecting an over 2% decline in the past 24 hours.

The crypto total market cap on the daily timeframe | Source: TOTAL chart on TradingView

Hyperliquid Sued by Two Major Traditional Exchanges

Hyperliquid, a cryptocurrency derivatives platform, is facing formal complaints from two major traditional exchanges, CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) and ICE (Intercontinental Exchange, parent company of the New York Stock Exchange). The firms have jointly approached the U.S. Congress and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), urging stricter regulatory oversight of Hyperliquid's operations. The action highlights growing tensions between established traditional financial institutions and emerging crypto-native platforms in the derivatives market.

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Hyperliquid Sued by Two Major Traditional Exchanges

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Breaking: OpenAI Undergoes Major Reorganization, President Brockman Assumes Command

OpenAI has announced a major internal reorganization just months before its anticipated IPO. The company is merging its three flagship product lines—ChatGPT, Codex, and the API platform—into a single, unified product organization. The most significant leadership change involves co-founder and President Greg Brockman moving from a background technical role to take full, permanent control over all product strategy. This follows the indefinite medical leave of AGI Deployment CEO Fidji Simo. Additionally, ChatGPT's longtime lead, Nick Turley, has been reassigned to enterprise products, with former Instagram executive Ashley Alexander taking over consumer offerings. The consolidation, internally framed as a strategic move towards an "Agentic Future," aims to break down internal silos and create a cohesive "Super App." This planned desktop application would integrate ChatGPT's conversational abilities, Codex's coding power, and a rumored internal web browser named "Atlas" to autonomously perform complex user tasks. The reorganization occurs amid significant internal and external pressures. OpenAI has recently seen a wave of high-profile departures, including Sora co-lead Bill Peebles and other senior technical leaders, leading to concerns about a thinning executive bench. Externally, rival Anthropic recently secured funding at a staggering $900 billion valuation, surpassing OpenAI's own. Google's upcoming I/O developer conference also poses a competitive threat. Analysts suggest the dramatic restructure is a pre-IPO move to present a clearer, more focused narrative to Wall Street—streamlining operations and demonstrating decisive leadership under Brockman to counter internal turbulence and intense market competition.

marsbit3h ago

Breaking: OpenAI Undergoes Major Reorganization, President Brockman Assumes Command

marsbit3h ago

Two Survival Structures of Market Makers and Arbitrageurs

Market makers and arbitrageurs represent two distinct survival structures in high-frequency trading. Market makers primarily use limit orders (makers) to profit from the bid-ask spread, enjoying high capital efficiency (nominally 100%) but bearing inventory risk. This "inventory risk" arises from passive, fragmented, and discontinuous order fills in the limit order book (LOB). This risk, while a potential cost, can also contribute to excess profit if managed within control boundaries, allowing for mean reversion. Market makers essentially sell "time" (uncertainty over execution timing) to the market for price control and low fees. In contrast, cross-exchange arbitrageurs typically use market orders (takers) to exploit price differences or funding rates, resulting in lower nominal capital efficiency (requiring capital on both exchanges) and higher transaction costs. Their risk exposure stems from asymmetries in exchange rules (e.g., minimum order sizes), execution latency, and infrastructure risks (e.g., ADL, oracle drift). These exposures are active, exogenous gaps that primarily erode profits rather than contribute to them. Arbitrageurs essentially sell "space" (capital sunk across venues) for localized, immediate certainty. Both strategies engage in a trade-off between execution friction and residual risk. Optimal systems allow for temporary, controlled risk exposure rather than enforcing zero exposure at all costs. Their evolution converges towards hybrid models: arbitrageurs may use maker orders to reduce costs, while market makers may use taker orders or hedges for risk management. Ultimately, both use different forms of risk exposure—market makers exposing inventory, arbitrageurs immobilizing capital—to extract marginal, hard-won certainty from the market.

链捕手3h ago

Two Survival Structures of Market Makers and Arbitrageurs

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Bitcoin Short-Term Holder Basis Remains High Within Biggest Supply Cluster

Bitcoin's recent recovery from February lows is approaching a critical supply cluster between $84,000 and $88,000, which holds the largest concentration of Bitcoin supply on the current chart. This zone represents the cost basis for short-term holders (investors who bought within the last 155 days) and is stacked with "trapped" sellers who bought near those levels and are now at breakeven. Technical analysis suggests the rally faces significant resistance in this area. Two primary scenarios are outlined: a direct push into the $84k-$86k zone followed by a rejection and pullback to $70,000 support, or a more volatile path involving a dip before testing the supply cluster. A weekly close above $84,000 would weaken the bearish rejection case, but a decisive break above $86,900-$88,000 is needed for a stronger bullish confirmation. Bitcoin is currently trading around $80,430.

bitcoinist3h ago

Bitcoin Short-Term Holder Basis Remains High Within Biggest Supply Cluster

bitcoinist3h ago

Who Will Define the Rules of the AI Era? Anthropic Discusses the 2028 US-China AI Landscape

This article, based on Anthropic's analysis, outlines the intensifying systemic competition between the U.S./allies and China for AI leadership by 2028. It argues that access to advanced computing power ("compute") is the critical bottleneck, where the U.S. currently holds a significant advantage through chip export controls and allied innovation. However, China's AI labs remain competitive by exploiting policy loopholes—via chip smuggling, overseas data center access, and "model distillation" attacks to copy U.S. model capabilities—keeping them close to the frontier. The piece presents two contrasting scenarios for 2028. In the first, decisive U.S. action to tighten compute controls and curb distillation locks in a 12-24 month AI capability lead, cementing democratic influence over global AI norms, security, and economic infrastructure. In the second, policy inaction allows China to achieve near-parity through continued access to U.S. technology, enabling Beijing to promote its AI stack globally and integrate advanced AI into its military and governance systems, altering the strategic balance. Anthropic contends that maintaining a decisive U.S. lead is essential for shaping safe AI development and governance. The core recommendation is for U.S. policymakers to urgently close compute and model access loopholes while promoting global adoption of the U.S. AI technology stack to secure a lasting strategic advantage.

marsbit5h ago

Who Will Define the Rules of the AI Era? Anthropic Discusses the 2028 US-China AI Landscape

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152 Total ViewsPublished 2024.04.06Updated 2024.12.03

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