Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick recently said the banking giant is exploring potential crypto offerings for its clients and is in discussions with financial regulators in the United States.
Speaking with CNBC at the World Economic Forum’s Davos summit, Pick said: “For us, the equation is really around whether we, as a highly regulated financial institution, can act as transactions.” Pick continued:
“We’ll be working with Treasury and the other regulators to sort of figure out how we can offer that in a safe way.”
Morgan Stanley gained exposure to the digital asset markets through Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and started to suggest these investment vehicles to its clients in 2024.
Morgan Stanley tested crypto waters in 2024
In January 2024, Morgan Stanley’s head of digital asset markets, Andrew Peel, said that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and Bitcoin threaten the US dollar.
Peel characterized digital currencies as a paradigm shift that has the potential of disintermediating global settlement systems such as the SWIFT interbank messaging protocol.
Morgan Stanley gave the green light for its financial advisers to begin pitching Bitcoin ETFs to clients in August 2024, which marked a milestone for crypto.
The bank is the largest international wirehouse — a financial institution offering a range of financial services to clients, including investment advice, banking, estate planning, brokerage platforms and more.
Related: Morgan Stanley mulls adding crypto to E-Trade: Report
Following Morgan Stanley’s announcement, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chief of Internet Enforcement John Reed Stark was highly critical of the decision to offer clients Bitcoin ETFs.
Stark said that Morgan Stanley’s choice to suggest Bitcoin ETFs to clients would subject the financial institution to heavy scrutiny from the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
“Morgan Stanley has just voluntarily subjected themselves to what will likely become the largest SEC and FINRA examination sweep in history,” the former SEC official wrote in an Aug. 9 X post.
One week later, on Aug. 14, Morgan Stanley disclosed $188 million in Bitcoin ETF assets held in over 5.5 million shares of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.
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