In a move that makes Wall Street sit up and blink, Morgan Stanley is gearing up to let its E-Trade clients dabble in crypto trading starting next year.
This is the tip of the iceberg, according to Jed Finn, the bank’s head honcho for wealth management.
The financial giant’s sudden crypto warm-up comes hot on the heels of its Chief Investment Officer Mike Wilson’s love letter to gold as the go-to inflation hedge, leaving Bitcoin curiously benched.
Crypto trading by Morgan Stanley
According to a leaked CNBC memo , shared widely by crypto news outlets, not surprisingly btw, Morgan Stanley plans to start crypto trading through a partner setup, roping in Zerohash to handle the heavy lifting, like liquidity, custody, and settlement.
Finn promises this is just phase one. Behind the scenes, the bank is building a robust wallet infrastructure, their words, that’ll hold client crypto assets safely, because handing over Bitcoin and Ethereum is only the prelude.
Tokenization
The real magic, Finn hints, lies in tokenization. Basically, everything from stocks, bonds, real estate, and even cash could get a digital makeover on blockchains.
Imagine your cash starting to pay interest the moment it hits your crypto wallet, that’s efficiency craving a spotlight.
Tokenized substitutes for cash begin paying interest right away, Finn says, like it’s the next best thing since sliced bread.
The rest of traditional assets will jump on this efficiency bandwagon, shaking up wealth management like a snow globe.
What makes this all the juicier is last week’s CIO sermon from Mike Wilson, who recommended a rather conservative 60/20/20 split between equities, bonds, and gold, sneaking Bitcoin right off the stage.
Wilson called gold the anti-fragile asset and tossed Bitcoin under the bus, citing its price swings and regulatory drama as deal-breakers.
That’s peculiar since Bitcoin’s been strutting an 80% year-over-year rally, leaving gold’s 40% gain eating dust.
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Crypto future
The contrast between Wilson’s cautious gold worship and Morgan Stanley’s sneaky crypto plans hints at a bank in flux, straddling tradition and the crypto future.
Maybe the CIO’s playlist and the wealth management team’s dance floor music are just out of sync. Or maybe all the leaked memo is just a hoax. We can’t know.
But whatever the rhythm, Morgan Stanley’s crypto rollout is a part of a broader strategy that could shake up how old-school money meets new-school tech.
Cryptocurrency and Web3 expert, founder of Kriptoworld
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With years of experience covering the blockchain space, András delivers insightful reporting on DeFi, tokenization, altcoins, and crypto regulations shaping the digital economy.
