Morgan Stanley has applied for a de novo national trust bank charter to hold digital assets for clients, continuing its recent expansion into crypto. A public filing with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) shows the application was received on Feb. 18 under the name “Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association.” Reports from Bloomberg and Forbes say the subsidiary would custody certain digital assets and execute purchases, sales, swaps and transfers to support client investment activities, as well as offer crypto staking.
A national bank trust charter authorizes fiduciary activities such as trust services, custody and asset safekeeping. “De novo” indicates the entity would be newly created rather than acquired. This is Morgan Stanley’s first trust charter specifically focused on crypto and follows 14 de novo bank charter applications in 2025. There are roughly 60 national trust banks supervised by the OCC in the U.S.
The filing comes amid a broader rush for crypto-related national trust charters. In December, the OCC conditionally approved five such applications, including First National Digital Currency Bank, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos. Stablecoin platform Bridge, owned by Stripe, said it received conditional approval earlier this month, followed by Crypto.com. Days later, payments firm Payoneer said it had filed for a national trust bank charter, potentially enabling it to issue a stablecoin and provide crypto services.
Morgan Stanley has accelerated crypto moves in recent months. In January the bank tapped equity markets executive Amy Oldenburg to lead a new crypto unit. Job listings show hiring for roles including digital assets strategy director, digital assets strategist and digital assets product lead. Morgan Stanley also filed in January to launch spot Bitcoin and Solana exchange-traded funds, and later filed for a staked Ether ETF.
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