Morgan Stanley files for bank charter to custody crypto

Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley has applied for a de novo national trust bank charter to allow it to custody crypto.

A filing submitted to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency this week shows that the New York-based bank filed for an entity called the Morgan Stanley Digital Trust. Bloomberg first reported the news.

The filing comes as a number of crypto-native companies file to get banking licences. Morgan Stanley, a titan in the world of traditional finance, has delved deeper into the crypto world in recent years.

Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to questions from DL News.

Morgan Stanley’s moves

Morgan Stanley has been making big crypto moves for years now. It started in 2021 offering wealthy clients exposure to Bitcoin via funds such as those by Galaxy Digital.

The bank’s CEO and Chairman Ted Pick said last year that the bank was working with regulators to see how they could offer crypto safely.

Morgan Stanley also started working with stablecoin infrastructure firm Zerohash in 2025 to allow clients on its online brokerage platform to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana.

And last month, the bank filed to debut its own Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds.

Top Wall Street firms have been pushing further into the world of crypto since Donald Trump, who received support and financial banking from digital asset entrepreneurs, became president.

What’s with the banking licence?

Top crypto firms like Coinbase and Trump-backed crypto company World Liberty Financial have also applied to the OCC for a banking licence.

The regulator has also given conditional approval to the likes of Crypto.com, Ripple, Circle, BitGo and others.

Such a licence would allow crypto firms like exchanges to custody assets and move money for customers in the way a traditional bank would.

Morgan Stanley’s move shows that Wall Street giants are also keen on being able to custody digital assets.

Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at mdisalvo@dlnews.com.