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Morgan Stanley Digital Trust seeks to bring custody, staking and lending in-house
The OCC decision is a path toward keeping custody, transaction administration, fiduciary staking, and lending-collateral work within Morgan Stanley for its wealth clients.
Morgan Stanley received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank for digital assets, opening the door for Morgan Stanley Digital Trust to bring core crypto services inside the firm, according to CryptoSlate.
The proposed subsidiary, set up as a wholly owned national trust bank, would be designed to support Morgan Stanley Wealth Management clients with custody, transaction administration, fiduciary staking, and collateral support. The filing covers functions tied to safeguarding assets and running day to day operations behind institutional accounts, including custody as well as purchases, sales, swaps, and transfers.
Morgan Stanley’s plan also includes collateral administration that supports affiliate digital asset lending, which could shift which vendors are most involved in client workflows. CryptoSlate notes that custody, staking administration, and collateral service providers that overlap with the trust bank’s approved functions could face increased competitive pressure.
The OCC approval is still subject to requirements in Morgan Stanley Digital Trust’s application, including at least $50 million in Tier 1 capital, a pool of liquid assets, and liquidity covering 180 days of operating costs, per the filing referenced by CryptoSlate. Additional layers beyond the trust bank plan, such as execution venues, validator operations, and broader blockchain infrastructure, would still depend on separate relationships and implementation choices.