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

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Entering the Global AI Core Club, TRON Becomes Gold Member of Agentic AI Council

Tron has joined the Agentic AI Council (AAIF), hosted by the Linux Foundation, as a Gold Member. This move marks a significant strategic expansion into AI for the blockchain platform. Tron founder Justin Sun stated that the next wave of digital payments will be machine-driven, and Tron is positioning itself to support this shift. The AAIF council includes major tech and financial players like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and JPMorgan. Tron's membership highlights its ambition to provide open financial infrastructure for autonomous AI agents, which require high-frequency, low-cost, machine-to-machine (M2M) micro-transactions—a need traditional payment systems cannot meet. Tron's established advantages include being the largest settlement layer for stablecoins, processing billions in daily transactions with high reliability and near-zero fees. Its robust network, which has maintained almost 100% uptime, is well-suited for AI-driven economic activity. With recent regulatory clarity from the SEC dismissing charges against Sun and Tron, the platform is now focused on integrating AI as a core growth driver in 2026. This step signals a shift in Tron’s valuation—from a crypto payment network to a potential central hub for the future AI economy, serving billions of autonomous agents.

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Brad Garlinghouse Says 2026 Will Be A Defining Year For Ripple With XRP At The Center Of It

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has declared 2026 a "defining year" for the company, with XRP positioned at the center of its strategy. He emphasized that Ripple is strategically positioned in key markets with capabilities in payments, custody, and liquidity. Garlinghouse noted that adoption does not happen overnight but grows steadily through partnerships and incremental progress, comparing it to flipping "a thousand little switches" that collectively create exponential impact. He expressed strong optimism for the future, suggesting XRP investors could be in a "very happy place" within five years. The company is also integrating AI into its operations and has recently backed an AI startup. Additionally, experts speculate Ripple may soon obtain a Federal Reserve master account, which would significantly boost its stablecoin, RLUSD.

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