Morgan Stanley Seeks OCC National Trust Charter to Scale Institutional Crypto Custody

Morgan Stanley has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust charter to operate a federally supervised crypto custody arm. The application signals the bank’s intent to formalize and scale institutional crypto custody and related services under a federal trust framework, aiming to reduce counterparty and regulatory risk for clients. Morgan Stanley plans a native Bitcoin custody and trading platform within about a year, according to its digital-asset lead, and the move marks a shift from advisory roles toward direct, regulated participation in digital assets by major Wall Street banks. Details on the exact assets covered, approval timeline, and probability were not disclosed. Traders should watch this development because an OCC trust charter would broaden access to institutional-grade custody, likely increase flows into major tokens, strengthen custody infrastructure, and reduce fragmentation among venues — all factors that can support market liquidity and longer-term institutional demand for crypto.