Morgan Stanley Goes Full Crypto: Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana Trading Coming to E*Trade and Digital Wallet in 2026
Wall Street's cautious giant finally takes the plunge.
Morgan Stanley is set to launch direct trading for Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana across its E*Trade platform and proprietary digital wallet next year. The move signals a seismic shift in institutional adoption, bringing three of the largest crypto assets directly to the firm's massive retail and wealth management client base.
From Skepticism to Integration
The announcement marks a definitive pivot for the banking titan, long viewed as a measured observer in the digital asset space. By integrating these specific cryptocurrencies, Morgan Stanley isn't just dipping a toe—it's building an on-ramp for mainstream capital. The 2026 rollout targets both active traders on E*Trade and clients using its custodial wallet solution, effectively creating a closed-loop ecosystem.
The Three-Asset Strategy
Focusing on Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana reveals a calculated play. It covers the established store-of-value narrative, the dominant smart-contract platform, and a high-performance blockchain favorite among developers. This trifecta aims to capture diverse investor theses—from digital gold to Web3 infrastructure—without overwhelming users with niche altcoins. It’s a curated menu for the cautious, served by a firm that still remembers the dot-com bust.
What This Means for Markets
Expect liquidity waves. Morgan Stanley’s entry legitimizes crypto for a swath of investors who’ve waited for a trusted name to hold their hand. The built-in wallet also suggests a longer-term play toward asset custody and staking services, moving beyond simple brokerage. It’s a masterclass in repackaging volatility as a premium product—Wall Street’s oldest trick.
The gates are opening. Whether this floods the zone with fresh demand or just gives bored portfolio managers something new to fiddle with remains to be seen. One thing’s clear: the old guard is no longer asking for permission.
Capturing private company employees and founders
The Carta deal brings together two major players in managing company ownership records. For Morgan Stanley’s wealth division, it opens doors to founders, executives, and early investors who hold big stakes in young companies. These people often have questions about getting cash from their holdings, spreading out their investments, planning for retirement, and other money matters that Morgan Stanley can help with better than Carta can.
“What became clear is that if we could partner with Carta to deliver Morgan Stanley Wealth Management capabilities through the Carta platform to the individuals, we WOULD be able to help everybody involved,” Finn said. He noted that many people involved with private companies have wealth on paper that has not yet turned into actual money. “But we’re in this for the long haul. We’re in this for 20, 30, 40 years—multiple generations.”
EquityZen deal opens door to pre-IPO investing
Morgan Stanley is also working to give more people access to private companies. A key part of this effort is buying EquityZen, a marketplace for trading private company shares. Morgan Stanley agreed to purchase EquityZen last year, and the deal should finish early in 2026.
Getting EquityZen will let Morgan Stanley’s regular wealth customers invest in private companies and grow its business with companies that want to sell more of their stock before going public.
“The average time to IPO 20 years ago was five years, and today it’s 14 years, and so all of our clients are missing out on that wealth creation,” Finn said. He explained the bank wanted to give customers access to opportunities usually limited to venture capital firms and large institutional investors.
Finn said Morgan Stanley picked EquityZen over other private share exchanges because it works directly with the companies issuing stock. Other exchanges use different types of contracts that can make company leaders lose track of who controls their shares, he said. “We didn’t want to be doing anything around the companies.”
The EquityZen purchase fits with the Carta partnership by strengthening Morgan Stanley’s ties to private companies with valuable stock. The bank wants to help arrange limited share sales for raising money and use its Carta connection to update ownership records.
Tokenization could reshape private share trading
Looking ahead, Finn sees the digital money systems Morgan Stanley is building eventually changing how private shares are sold. At first, sales on EquityZen will work the old-fashioned way. But later, private companies might turn portions of their stock into digital tokens to make trades between buyers and sellers easier.
“One huge benefit is transaction efficiency for the company,” he said. “Once there’s a digital representation of that share of value for the private-market company, it can trade seamlessly and no one has to sign anything and it becomes an instantaneous settlement.”
The MOVE comes as real-world asset tokenization continues to gain traction across the financial industry, with experts predicting the market could reach trillions of dollars in the coming years.
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.
