As Wall Street banks accelerate their entry into crypto, Morgan Stanley has taken a decisive step to rival fintech disruptors: direct spot Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading on its E*Trade retail brokerage platform.
On May 6, Morgan Stanley disclosed via Bloomberg that its E*Trade platform officially launched a pilot for crypto spot trading, with a fee of 50 basis points per transaction. The pilot initially supports three assets: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL). Liquidity, custody, and settlement services are provided by Zerohash. At the early stage, the functionality is currently aimed at a select group of users, with plans to open to all 8.6 million E*Trade customers by the end of 2026.
Users will see their crypto holdings alongside traditional stocks and bonds in a single dashboard.
Affordable fee structure is Morgan Stanley’s clear advantage
The 0.5% fee puts Morgan Stanley below several rivals. Schwab charges 75 basis points on its spot Bitcoin and Ether trading. Coinbase retail fees can climb above 0.5% depending on tier and payment method, while Robinhood markets itself as commission-free, but spreads on each trade typically run 35 to 95 basis points. Fidelity’s separate crypto product charges roughly 1% per trade.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted on X that the new offering may accelerate market fee competition: “SHOTS FIRED: Morgan Stanley is rolling out crypto trading on its E*Trade platform for 50bps/trade, undercutting Schwab’s 75bps (who undercut Coinbase). If I know Schwab, they likely won’t let this stand. Others will prob undercut too. By the time the dust settles it’ll be pretty…”
Zerohash CEO Edward Woodford has earlier commented on the broader trend: “I think over the next 12 months, every single bank in the US that has a wealth of trading arm will offer crypto.” He added that other trading assets will be tokenized and transferred to blockchain rails as well.
This trend, now supported by Morgan Stanley, may be attributed to the gradual establishment of regulatory clarity that financial institutions in the U.S. received in order to enter the space, as well as the general convenience and efficiency of the underlying blockchain mechanisms for the finance sector.
Morgan Stanley’s crypto strategy
Custody, liquidity, and settlement for the new E*Trade platform run through Zerohash, the Chicago infrastructure firm in which Morgan Stanley holds a stake. It was recently reported that Mastercard made a bid to acquire the same firm in a deal worth near $2 billion. However, the payment giant later shifted the plans to a strategic investment instead of outright acquisition.
The latest offering builds on a series of Morgan Stanley’s crypto-related moves in recent months, including the launch of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, with planned products tied to Ether and Solana. Morgan Stanley has also advanced efforts on the infrastructure side, applying for a national trust bank charter that would enable it to directly custody digital assets.
Sources told Bloomberg that the bank is also considering services that would enable the conversion of crypto holdings into exchange-traded products without selling, and is preparing for potential tokenized equity trading later this year.
The brokerage launch arrived weeks after MSBT, Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin ETF, which went live in April with a 0.14% expense ratio. The bank has also filed for Ether and Solana ETFs. Roughly 16,000 in-house advisors oversee about $9.3 trillion in client assets.
