Morgan Stanley Seeks OCC Charter for Crypto Custody and Staking

Morgan Stanley has applied for a de novo national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), according to a public filing dated February 18 and first reported by Bloomberg.

The charter would allow the bank to custody digital assets and, as reported, expand into staking and trading services for investment clients. Operational details were not disclosed in the public listing.

The move follows recent digital asset initiatives at Morgan Stanley, including new leadership appointments and filings for spot crypto exchange-traded funds.

If approved, the charter would place the bank under federal oversight for its crypto activities, aligning it with firms such as Crypto.com, Ripple, and Circle that have received conditional OCC trust approvals.