Morgan Stanley applies for US national trust bank charter to offer crypto custody, trading and staking

Morgan Stanley has applied for a US de novo national trust bank charter under the name Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association, with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency confirming it received the application on Feb. 18. The proposed national trust bank would allow Morgan Stanley to directly hold digital assets such as BTC and other cryptocurrencies under federal banking oversight, and support services including purchases, sales, swaps, transfers and staking within client investment accounts, Bloomberg and Forbes report. This marks the bank's first trust charter focused specifically on crypto operations and follows recent moves including filings for spot Bitcoin and Solana ETFs, a staked Ether ETF, and plans to roll out a proprietary digital wallet later this year. The application is among 14 de novo trust bank filings in 2025 as the OCC reviews multiple crypto-related charters, after granting conditional approvals in December to entities such as Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos, First National Digital Currency Bank, Bridge owned by Stripe and Crypto.com.