Wall Street Giant Morgan Stanley Enters Crypto Race With Pricing Edge: Report

One of the world’s largest wealth management firms, Morgan Stanley, is all set to introduce cryptocurrency trading on its E*Trade platform, which it acquired for $13 billion six years ago.

It aims to compete on lower costs.

Morgan Stanley Joins Crypto Trading Space

The bank plans to charge 50 basis points per transaction based on dollar value, as it positions itself below rivals such as Coinbase and Robinhood. The rate is also below the 75 basis points charged by Charles Schwab, which rolled out spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading earlier in April.

Morgan Stanley’s latest service is currently in a pilot phase and is expected to be rolled out to all 8.6 million E*Trade clients later this year, according to the latest report by Bloomberg. At launch, clients will be able to trade Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana. The banking giant had previously tapped Zerohash, an infrastructure provider for digital assets, for the initiative back in September 2025.

The latest development comes almost a month after Morgan Stanley’s much-anticipated spot Bitcoin ETF, under the ticker MSBT, went live on NYSE Arca. The fund debuted with a 0.14% fee, lower than competing products. Data compiled by SoSoValue revealed that MSBT’s cumulative net inflow stood at over $181 million as of May 5th.

Stablecoin Reserve Fund

More recently, Morgan Stanley launched the Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio (MSNXX) in New York to target stablecoin issuers seeking compliant reserve solutions. The fund is part of its Institutional Liquidity Funds Trust and is structured as a government money market fund in line with reserve standards set by the GENIUS Act.

It is designed to help issuers manage assets backing their tokens while maintaining liquidity and capital stability. The main objective of the portfolio is to keep a $1 net asset value and generate income by investing only in cash, US Treasury bills, notes, and overnight repurchase agreements.

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Co-Head of Global Liquidity Fred McMullen had said that the offering responds to growing demand as stablecoin issuance expands. Meanwhile, Amy Oldenburg had added that the initiative supports efforts to modernize financial infrastructure and improve institutional access to digital asset markets.