Morgan Stanley is set to launch crypto trading for retail clients through E-Trade, following the CIO’s recommendation of gold over Bitcoin as an inflation hedge. The bank will partner with Zerohash for liquidity, custody, and settlement, with plans to expand into tokenization of traditional assets like stocks and bonds.

The move is part of a broader digital asset strategy, with a focus on developing a robust wallet infrastructure for client digital assets. The bank sees potential in tokenization, aiming to bring efficiency and interest-bearing capabilities to various asset classes beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Despite Bitcoin’s strong performance, Morgan Stanley CIO excluded it from his proposed portfolio strategy, favoring gold as a hedge against inflation alongside equities and fixed income. Wilson cited Bitcoin’s volatility and regulatory uncertainty as reasons for its exclusion, despite its outperformance compared to gold.

This surprising development comes as the bank prepares to offer crypto trading to E-Trade clients in the first half of 2026. Morgan Stanley sees immense potential in the cryptocurrency space, not just as an investment, but also in the broader application of DLT and tokenization.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: Morgan Stanley to offer crypto trading in surprise move