Morgan Stanley Launches Crypto Trading

According to a Bloomberg report, Morgan Stanley is integrating cryptocurrency spot trading into E*Trade, which is currently in a pilot phase and is planned to be opened to E*Trade's 8.6 million customers later this year. The bank charges 50 basis points per transaction, lower than the starting 60 basis points on Coinbase, Schwab's 75 basis points, and Robinhood's starting 95 basis points.

In the past, banks have been restricted by regulatory constraints and have struggled to offer digital asset services on a large scale; customers typically turned to platforms like Coinbase and Robinhood to trade cryptocurrencies. Now, Morgan Stanley is attempting to reincorporate this demand into their retail brokerage and wealth management system through E*Trade.

E*Trade is crucial because it is already a significant entry point for Morgan Stanley's retail customers. In 2020, Morgan Stanley acquired E*Trade for $13 billion, originally to expand its retail brokerage business. Now, this deal also provides a ready-made customer base for its entry into the cryptocurrency market. Jed Finn, the head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, stated:

“This is far more than just trading cryptocurrencies at a lower rate. In a way, this strategy is about re-intermediating the disintermediators.”

Low rates are only the tip of the iceberg. What Morgan Stanley is truly betting on is the trend of convergence between traditional finance and decentralized finance, and they hope to redirect customer and transactional demands that previously flowed to crypto-native platforms back into the banking system.

Around this goal, Morgan Stanley's moves have gone beyond E*Trade spot trading. The bank plans to support Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana trading first and launched a Bitcoin ETF last month, which it claims is the first among Wall Street banks; it also plans to introduce Ethereum and Solana ETFs and has applied for a national trust bank license in February to custody digital assets.

This directly changes the competitive landscape of cryptocurrency trading platforms. Robinhood has been offering cryptocurrency trading since 2018, with related revenue reaching $901 million last year, accounting for 20% of its annual net revenue; Coinbase's consumer transaction revenue in 2025 was $3.32 billion, with Bitcoin and Ethereum trading accounting for 45% of its total transaction volume. For Coinbase and Robinhood, the pressure is not just from lower rates but also the potential diversion of customer access by large wealth management platforms.