Morgan Stanley Expands Into Direct Crypto Trading via E*Trade and Zerohash Partnership

Morgan Stanley is preparing to offer cryptocurrency trading to retail clients of its E*Trade division in the first half of 2026, underscoring Wall Street’s accelerating adoption of digital assets. The bank will partner with infrastructure provider Zerohash to deliver liquidity, custody, and settlement for the service.

At launch, clients will be able to directly trade bitcoin, ether, and solana. Unlike previous offerings, which largely provided indirect exposure through funds, the move represents a shift toward direct ownership of digital assets. This development reflects Morgan Stanley’s positioning as one of the most aggressive large banks in embracing digital assets following the Trump administration’s supportive regulatory stance.

Wealth management accounted for nearly half of Morgan Stanley’s total revenue last year, and the bank views digital assets as integral to its long-term strategy in the sector. “Offering clients the ability to trade crypto is the tip of the iceberg,” said Jed Finn, head of wealth management, in a recent internal memo. The firm is also developing a digital wallet to serve as custodian of client assets and preparing for tokenized versions of traditional instruments such as cash, equities, bonds, and real estate.

Tokenization — the digital representation of traditional financial assets on blockchains — is expected to drive efficiencies across wealth management. According to Finn, tokenized substitutes for cash, for example, can begin accruing interest immediately once placed in wallets, a model likely to extend to other asset classes.

The global digital asset market is valued at nearly $3.9 trillion, with bitcoin alone accounting for over $2.2 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap data. Financial incumbents such as Robinhood and Charles Schwab have already expanded their crypto offerings, but Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade integration highlights how large banks are now embedding digital asset trading directly into core platforms.

For institutional observers, the initiative points to a structural change in wealth management: the convergence of traditional and digital assets within a unified platform. The strategy also highlights the growing importance of distributed ledger technology (DLT) as a foundation for financial infrastructure, extending beyond cryptocurrencies into tokenized securities and broader capital markets applications.

Zerohash, Morgan Stanley’s partner in the rollout, separately announced that it had achieved unicorn status following a $104 million funding round, with participation from Interactive Brokers, SoFi, and Morgan Stanley itself.

Morgan Stanley’s initiative is a clear signal that tokenization and digital assets are moving from niche experimentation toward mainstream integration in institutional finance.