Morgan Stanley Files for OCC Bank Charter to Custody Crypto

Morgan Stanley has submitted a de novo national trust bank charter application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, seeking authorization to custody crypto on behalf of its clients. A public filing shows the OCC received the application on February 18 under the entity name Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association, with details of the business plan disclosed on Friday, according to reports from Bloomberg and Forbes.

Scope of the Digital Trust Charter

The planned subsidiary will hold digital assets in custody and carry out purchases, sales, swaps, and transfers in support of client investment activities, according to the filing. Crypto staking services are also part of the proposed business model. A national bank trust charter is a regulatory designation that authorizes a financial institution to engage in fiduciary activities, including trust services, custody, and asset safekeeping.

The term de novo — Latin for "anew" — indicates that Morgan Stanley Digital Trust is a newly created entity rather than an acquisition. This marks the firm's first trust charter dedicated to digital assets, following 14 de novo bank charter applications submitted in 2025. Approximately 60 national trust banks are currently supervised by the OCC in the United States.

Which Companies Have Received OCC Crypto Bank Charters?

The OCC conditionally approved five crypto-related national trust bank applications in December, granting charters to First National Digital Currency Bank, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. Stablecoin platform Bridge, owned by payments processor Stripe, announced it received conditional approval for a national trust bank earlier this month, with exchange operator Crypto.com following on Monday.

Days afterward, Payoneer, a global financial services firm, disclosed that it had filed for a national trust bank charter in the United States. The move could enable Payoneer to issue a stablecoin and provide various crypto services, according to the company.

How Is Morgan Stanley Expanding in Crypto?

Morgan Stanley has been ramping up its digital assets operations at a rapid pace. In January, the $2 trillion investment bank appointed equity markets executive Amy Oldenburg to head its newly formed crypto unit. LinkedIn job listings reveal that the firm is actively recruiting for positions including digital assets strategy director, digital assets strategist, and digital assets product lead.

The Wall Street giant also filed to launch spot Bitcoin and Solana exchange-traded funds in January, followed by an application for a staked Ether ETF. Taken together, the OCC bank charter application and expanding ETF lineup signal Morgan Stanley's ambition to become a full-service digital assets provider for its institutional and wealth management clients.