Morgan Stanley Seeks Bank Charter For Crypto Custody

Morgan Stanley has applied for a de novo national trust bank charter, a move that would allow the Wall Street firm to custody digital assets directly under federal oversight. The Feb. 18 filing with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency signals a structural shift: crypto services are moving deeper into the regulated core of U.S. banking.

According to the application, the proposed trust bank would be headquartered in Purchase, New York, with services offered nationwide. Beyond safekeeping digital assets, the entity would conduct trading and facilitate staking for investment clients. The filing follows a series of digital-asset expansions, including the appointment of Amy Oldenburg as head of digital-asset strategy in January, ETF filings tied to Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, and a partnership with Zerohash to enable crypto trading for E*Trade clients this year.

The national trust charter provides a federally supervised pathway for custody without requiring a full-service banking license. Crypto and fintech firms have increasingly pursued this structure to access the U.S. financial system while maintaining operational flexibility. Morgan Stanley’s entry adds a traditional banking heavyweight to a field that until recently was dominated by digital-native firms.

Applications from digital-asset companies have drawn criticism from banking trade groups, which argue that the trust charter risks stretching its intended purpose and could expose consumers to new vulnerabilities. Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould has defended the framework, stating that it brings firms under direct federal supervision rather than leaving them in fragmented state regimes.

Morgan Stanley’s move arrives amid a broader regulatory recalibration in Washington, as the digital-asset sector sees reduced enforcement pressure and greater policy engagement. If approved, the charter would embed crypto custody inside a systemically important financial institution, potentially accelerating institutional adoption. The next catalyst will be the OCC’s review timeline and whether other major banks follow with similar filings.