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It’s no longer surprising that the financial giant ponders pondering how to better serve clients who want Crypto.
However, it’s not that important.
The first is Morgan Stanley, who is reportedly working on adding crypto trading to the e* trade platform (probably next year). When I requested details, the spokesman declined to comment.
This report does not shock us by citing familiar people. Considering our own reports over the last few weeks and months (years). It’s not so surprising now given that changing US regulatory environment could ease the burden on TRADFI players who want to provide more crypto services.
So if Morgan Stanley is thinking about this, will they follow?
In a nutshell, Ck Zheng, co-founder of ZX Squared Capital, told me: “Yes.” Especially when they evaluate the market where Zheng says it can grow 10 or 20 times over the next decade. And YA knows everything about diversifying its portfolio.
Bitcoin is superior to many other risk assets during market volatility last month, added Zheng, former director of valuation risk management at Morgan Stanley (other location). He spent nearly 20 years in a similar role at Credit Suisse.
“The ongoing tariff war may make many investors want to diversify away from US equities, US Treasury and US dollar assets,” Zheng said.
Meanwhile, Charles Schwab will be offering spot Bitcoin and ether trading within the next 12 months, CEO Rick Wurster told Reuters.
This is what Schwab representative said to me in November and what I said yesterday and again yesterday. They planned to offer spot crypto transactions, saying that “the regulatory environment will be clearer.”
The person in charge added:
They didn’t immediately share with me what the company was specifically waiting for (but I’m at least thinking about invoices for the market structure).
Another info we heard from a Schwab spokesman – The company in the fourth quarter saw a 400% increase in traffic to its Crypto page on Schwab.com.
In the meantime, Schwab and other brokerage companies (not Vanguard) will have investors access to Spot and Futures Crypto ETFs and blockchain equity ETFs like Fund Schwab, which launched in mid-2022. Bitcoin and ether futures are also only Schwab clients with futures accounts.
Morgan Stanley may remember that financial advisors were able to provide BlackRock and Fidelity Bitcoin ETFs to certain clients. This solicitation was different from what we did before (we only allow investment in such products if our clients actively seek them out).
Throw the name of another financial giant here: Wells Fargo. The bank made unsolicited spot Bitcoin ETF purchases available to certain clients (via Wells Fargo Advisors or its WellStrade Platform) in early 2024.
More recently, the Wells Fargo Investment Institute has called digital assets “investable” in a March report aimed at addressing common questions.
Brian Lealing, who leads WFII’s global bond strategy, told me that this was the answer to “many inquiries from clients and investment experts regarding digital assets, and whether or not allocations should be included in the portfolio.” Most of these questions are limited to Bitcoin for now, he added.
A spokesman for Wells Fargo did not want to comment today on possible spot crypto trading plans. Instead, clients are repeating their ability to purchase Bitcoin ETFs.
The surge in spot crypto trading on Wall Street will clearly be a milestone beyond existing ETF access.
“While many investors can invest in Bitcoin ETFs, Spot Bitcoin Trading offers 24/7 direct trading access at a lower price,” says Zheng.
