Stanley will begin offering cryptocurrency trading to E*Trade customers next year through a partnership with digital asset infrastructure provider Zerohash, marking another major Wall Street bank's entry into retail crypto services.

The rollout will start in the first half of 2026 with three major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. E*Trade clients will be able to trade these digital tokens directly through the platform, according to a Morgan Stanley spokesperson.

Morgan Stanley Brings Crypto Trading to E*Trade

Morgan Stanley's move puts it in direct competition with rivals who have already captured significant revenue from cryptocurrency trading. Robinhood, which has offered crypto trading for over five years, generated $626 million from digital asset transactions last year, representing 21% of its total net revenue.

Charles Schwab has taken a different approach, providing clients access to BTC and ETH through exchange -traded funds rather than direct token trading. Interactive Brokers has also expanded its crypto offerings and led Zerohash's recent $104 million funding round.

"Every bank that has a trading or private wealth arm will offer crypto to their customers as a spot contract," said Edward Woodford, Zerohash's CEO. "In the last year they've had the clarity in order to enter the space."

Regulatory Shift Opens Doors for Banks

The expansion comes after a regulatory shift under the Trump administration, which has taken a more supportive stance toward cryptocurrency regulation. This change has emboldened traditional financial institutions to develop digital asset products for their customers.

Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley's head of wealth management, said the crypto trading launch represents just the first phase of the bank's digital asset strategy. The firm plans to develop a full cryptocurrency wallet solution for clients and will introduce an asset-allocation strategy for crypto investments within the coming weeks.

"The underlying technology has been proven and blockchain -based infrastructure is obviously here to stay," Finn said. "Clients should have access to digitized assets, traditional assets and cryptocurrencies, all in the same ecosystem that they're used to."

We first heard in early May that the giant lender planned to introduce cryptocurrency trading for its retail clients on the E*Trade platform. The move was reportedly driven by regulatory easing in the United States.

Market Reaches New Heights

The cryptocurrency market has evolved from a niche speculative investment into a $3.9 trillion asset class that has attracted institutional investors, asset managers and retail traders. Bitcoin alone accounts for approximately $2.25 trillion of that total market value, while Ethereum represents around $506 billion.

Morgan Stanley's planned asset-allocation strategies will recommend crypto positions ranging from zero to several percentage points of a client's portfolio, depending on individual investment goals and risk tolerance.

The bank is also exploring broader applications for blockchain technology beyond trading, including potential improvements to back-office operations like settlement and clearing processes.

"If you fast-forward it to its logical extreme, the way we interact with money becomes significantly different," Finn said. For wealth management firms, "sitting between the client and this emerging tradfi-defi divide, and simplifying the user experience" represents a "massive opportunity."

Zerohash's funding round, which included participation from Morgan Stanley, Interactive Brokers, SoFi and other financial firms, valued the infrastructure company at $1 billion and granted it unicorn status in the fintech sector.

Check more Morgan Stanley related stories:

• Morgan Stanley to Add Crypto Trading on E*Trade as Fed Eases Restrictions
• FINRA Levies $1.6 Million in Fine on Morgan Stanley for Supervisory Failures
• Morgan Stanley Nears $500 million Deal to End Trading Probe