Morgan Stanley has applied for a national trust bank charter specifically for digital assets. The application, filed as “Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association,” seeks to allow the firm to custody crypto and facilitate client trading and staking activities.
Morgan Stanley has applied for a de novo national trust bank charter focused on digital assets. The move aligns with the firm’s recent expansion into cryptocurrency services and products.
A public filing with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shows the application was received on Feb. 18. The proposed entity is named “Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association.”
Further details revealed the subsidiary will custody certain digital assets and execute purchases, sales, swaps, and transfers. It will also support crypto staking to facilitate client investment activities.
A national bank trust charter authorizes a financial institution to engage in fiduciary activities like trust services and custody. The “de novo” designation indicates it is a newly created entity rather than an acquired one.
This is Morgan Stanley’s first trust charter with a specific crypto focus. It follows 14 de novo bank charter applications filed in 2025 across the industry.
In December, the OCC conditionally approved five applications for crypto-related national trust banks. The approved firms included First National Digital Currency Bank, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos.
Stablecoin platform Bridge, owned by payments processor Stripe, received conditional approval earlier this month. Crypto.com received similar approval days later.
Global financial services firm Payoneer also filed for a national trust bank charter. Such a charter could enable it to issue a stablecoin and provide various crypto services.
Morgan Stanley has accelerated its crypto moves in recent months. In January, the Wall Street bank tapped equity markets executive Amy Oldenburg to lead its new crypto unit.
The investment bank is also looking to expand its crypto team via job listings. It is advertising positions for digital assets strategy director, digital assets strategist, and digital assets product lead.
Morgan Stanley filed to launch spot Bitcoin and Solana exchange-traded funds in January. It later filed for a staked Ether ETF.
