Morgan Stanley gets preliminary OCC approval for crypto trust

In June the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval for Morgan Stanley to form a national digital-asset trust bank named Morgan Stanley Digital Trust. The OCC’s application record lists the charter action as approved on June 18, but the approval is conditional and final authorization is still pending. The proposed unit would operate as a wholly owned national trust bank serving Morgan Stanley Wealth Management clients, subject to final regulatory sign-off.

The filing describes the bank acting as a custodian and operational hub for institutional accounts. It would handle safekeeping of assets and the day-to-day account operations behind purchases, sales, swaps and transfers.

The application requests trust powers to administer fiduciary staking on clients’ behalf and to provide collateral administration to support digital-asset lending by Morgan Stanley affiliates.

Corporate Decision 1378 sets regulatory conditions that the firm must meet before the charter becomes active. The conditions include a minimum of $50 million in Tier 1 capital, a designated pool of liquid assets and enough liquidity to cover 180 days of operating costs. Morgan Stanley must meet those capital and liquidity thresholds and satisfy other supervisory requirements before converting the preliminary filing into an active, regulated trust bank.

The proposed structure would let the bank hold client assets, run transaction settlement and recordkeeping, manage staking in a fiduciary capacity, and administer collateral used in affiliate lending relationships.

Functions that currently overlap with the proposed bank include custody, staking administration and collateral services provided by third-party firms. Where services overlap, demand for outside custodians, staking operators and collateral-service providers could be affected.

Several areas would remain outside the trust bank’s scope and require separate arrangements. Access to trading venues, market liquidity, lending counterparties, validator operation and other elements of blockchain infrastructure involve external relationships and technical integration.

Morgan Stanley will need to build or integrate custody systems, staking workflows, compliance and risk controls, and technical interfaces that connect bank systems to exchanges, trading venues and blockchain networks. Those systems and processes must align with banking supervision and the trust powers the OCC would grant.

The application aligns with an industry trend of large financial firms seeking regulated custody and related services under bank supervision. If the OCC converts the preliminary approval into a final charter and the bank becomes operational, Morgan Stanley would add a regulated vehicle to centralize operational controls for its wealth-management clients’ digital-asset holdings. Until final authorization and operational launch, external providers will continue to supply many execution, liquidity and infrastructure services.