Morgan Stanley Dives Into E*Trade Crypto, Cheaper Fees Spark Wall Street Frenzy

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Morgan Stanley Debuts Crypto Trading Pilot

Baking giant Morgan Stanley has rolled out a pilot to offer direct crypto trading on its E*Trade platform, with cheaper pricing than its competition, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Because nothing says “trust us” like a discount bakery vibe applied to finance.

According to the report, the bank is charging E*Trade users a 50-basis-point fee on the transaction value, placing its prices below those of other major players. For instance, Robinhood’s fees start at 95 basis points, while Coinbase and Charles Schwab’s fees start at 60 and 75 basis points, respectively. Yes, a fee is a fee, but apparently cheaper is the new sexy.

Morgan Stanley is currently offering its crypto trading pilot to a limited number of users, but expects to give access to all of E*Trade’s 8.6 million clients later this year. Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley’s head of wealth management, said in an interview that the launch is “much bigger than trading crypto at a cheaper rate,” adding that “the strategy is disintermediating the disintermediators.” Translation: we’re cutting out the middlemen, because nothing says progress like fewer people around to remind you you’re being sold something you don’t understand.

The banking giant bought E*Trade in 2020 for $13 billion. In May 2025, it introduced plans to allow crypto trading on the platform, following the Trump administration’s efforts to make the US “the crypto capital of the world.” Ah yes, a government-caused crypto fever dream-sure, that’ll end well.

People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that executives are preparing an offering to directly convert cryptocurrencies into shares of exchange-traded products (ETPs) without selling the assets. In addition, the bank reportedly plans to add the ability to trade tokenized equities in the second half of 2026. Because if you’re going to promise the future, you might as well stockpile more promises in the meantime.

Morgan Stanley’s Strategic Digital Assets Push

The launch is part of Morgan Stanley’s broader push to expand in the digital assets space, an industry that until recently was off-limits to banks. Over the past few years, the Wall Street giant has been betting on the convergence of traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). It’s like a very expensive dating app for money.

In 2024, Morgan Stanley, which has built one of the most significant Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) holdings in the US, allowed its managers to offer the funds as an investment option for its wealthy customers. Fancy funds for fancy clients-because nothing says democratization like letting the portfolio managers decide what the rich can have.

Last year, it expanded access to crypto fund investments for all clients, moving away from the previous restrictions that limited access to individuals with at least $1.5 million in assets and an aggressive risk tolerance. The shift allowed its financial advisors to present the funds to any client, including those with retirement accounts. Welcome to the future, where your grandma’s IRA can hold a crypto fund and you can tell her, “It’s all fine, Nana, really.”

Notably, Morgan Stanley became the first Wall Street bank to debut a spot Bitcoin ETF in April, and made it the cheapest fund in the category. The bank also filed for spot Ethereum and Solana ETFs earlier this year, which are expected to debut this year. Because if you can’t out-muscle the competition on price, you at least out-trend them with shiny tickers.

In February, it joined the list of companies applying for a national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). In its application, the bank said that the charter would be used to conduct crypto trading and staking for its investment clients, reinforcing its strategic push for the broader digital asset industry. Oh, the joy of more staking-because nothing screams stability like lock-in on a blockchain with a pension fund.

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2026-05-07 11:57