Morgan Stanley seeks OCC national trust charter for digital asset custody services
The major Wall Street financial institution has ramped up its cryptocurrency initiatives, submitting applications for Bitcoin, Ether and Solana exchange-traded funds during January.
The investment banking giant Morgan Stanley has submitted an application for a de novo national trust bank charter, which would grant the institution the capability to custody digital assets for its client base — a strategic action that aligns with the firm's ongoing cryptocurrency market expansion efforts.
Documents filed publicly with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) indicate that the bank trust charter application was submitted on Feb. 18, operating under the designation "Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association."
Additional information regarding the subsidiary's business plan emerged on Friday, as documented in coverage by Bloomberg and Forbes, disclosing that the Morgan Stanley entity will provide custody services for select digital assets while executing client-related transactions including purchases, sales, swaps and transfers in support of investment operations, in addition to cryptocurrency staking services.
A charter for a national trust bank provides authorization for a financial institution to participate in fiduciary operations including trust administration, custody services and the safeguarding of assets. The phrase "de novo" originates from Latin, translating to "anew," signifying that the entity represents a fresh creation as opposed to one obtained through acquisition.
The application represents Morgan Stanley's inaugural trust charter with dedicated concentration on cryptocurrency activities and comes after 14 de novo bank charter submissions throughout 2025. Currently, roughly 60 national trust banks operate under OCC supervision across the United States.
Rush for crypto bank charters
During December, the OCC granted conditional approval to five separate applications for cryptocurrency-focused national trust banks, with recipients including First National Digital Currency Bank, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos.
Bridge, the stablecoin platform under ownership of payments processing company Stripe, announced it obtained conditional approval for establishing a national trust bank at the beginning of this month, with Crypto.com securing similar approval on Monday.
Several days following those announcements, Payoneer, an international financial services company, disclosed that it had submitted documentation for a national trust bank charter within the United States, a move that would potentially allow the firm to create a stablecoin and deliver multiple cryptocurrency-related services.
Morgan Stanley doubling down on crypto
The pace of Morgan Stanley's cryptocurrency market initiatives has intensified throughout recent months. During January, the prominent Wall Street financial institution appointed equity markets executive Amy Oldenburg to oversee its newly formed cryptocurrency division.
Employment postings visible on LinkedIn demonstrate that the investment bank, managing $2 trillion in assets, is actively seeking to grow its cryptocurrency personnel, with posted openings for positions including digital assets strategy director, digital assets strategist and digital assets product lead.
Additionally, Morgan Stanley submitted filings in January to introduce spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) exchange-traded funds, subsequently following up with an application for a staked Ether (ETH) ETF product.