Morgan Stanley applies for OCC national trust charter to custody crypto assets, execute trades and offer staking

first published 2026-02-28T02:05:40Z

Morgan Stanley applied Feb. 18 for a de novo national trust bank charter under the name “Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association.” The subsidiary’s business plan would custody certain digital assets, execute purchases/sales/swaps/transfers to support client investment activity and provide crypto staking. This is Morgan Stanley’s first crypto-focused trust charter and follows a wave of OCC conditional approvals for other firms. The bank has also expanded its crypto efforts—naming a crypto unit lead, recruiting digital-assets roles, and filing for spot Bitcoin and Solana ETFs plus a staked Ether ETF.

AI Analysis

Morgan Stanley formally filed for a national trust charter specifically to custody digital assets, execute client trades/swaps/transfers and offer staking; the filing is the firm’s first crypto-focused charter and comes alongside other OCC conditional approvals and the bank’s ETF and staffing moves.

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