MAROKO133 Eksklusif crypto: Morgan Stanley Targets Direct Crypto Custody With Trust Bank A

📌 MAROKO133 Hot crypto: Morgan Stanley Targets Direct Crypto Custody With Trust Ba

Morgan Stanley has applied for a national trust bank charter to provide direct cryptocurrency custody for its institutional clients. This represents a major escalation in Wall Street’s push into the digital asset sector.

The $9 trillion banking giant filed the de novo application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on February 18.

Morgan Stanley’s New OCC Bid to Rival BitGo and Anchorage

If approved, the charter would transform Morgan Stanley into a direct competitor to crypto-native custodians such as BitGo and Anchorage Digital, while testing the limits of traditional banking regulations.

The filing marks a significant shift in the competitive landscape. While the OCC has previously granted conditional trust charters to crypto-focused firms, a legacy wirehouse securing full approval would signal a major thaw in regulatory oversight.

Industry analysts attribute this renewed momentum to the Trump administration’s efforts to provide clearer federal guidelines for traditional financial institutions entering the digital asset space.

“People are going to be stunned this year — The world’s largest institutions and corporates are coming fully into crypto,” Hunter Horsley, Bitwise CEO, said.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley’s application outlines ambitious plans to offer custody, trading, and staking services under one roof.

So, the OCC filing is part of a bifurcated digital asset strategy that distinctly separates institutional wealth management from retail trading operations.

On the institutional side, the bank is actively investing in blockchain infrastructure. A recent job posting for a lead engineer revealed Morgan Stanley is building a platform for decentralized finance and real-world asset tokenization.

The role requires expertise in both public blockchains, such as Ethereum and Polygon, and private, permissioned networks like Hyperledger and Canton.

This highlights the bank’s intent to bridge walled-garden institutional assets with public network liquidity.

Simultaneously, Morgan Stanley is preparing a massive retail expansion.

The firm plans to launch direct cryptocurrency trading on its ETrade platform in the first half of 2026, offering Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana to everyday investors.

The ETrade integration represents a direct challenge to retail-focused exchanges like Coinbase and Robinhood.

Indeed, this dual approach underscores a broader trend among traditional financial titans.

Encouraged by a more accommodating regulatory environment in Washington, legacy banks are rapidly accelerating their crypto roadmaps. They are now hiring specialized Web3 talent and transitioning from passive exchange-traded fund facilitation to core infrastructure development.

The post Morgan Stanley Targets Direct Crypto Custody With Trust Bank Application appeared first on BeInCrypto.

🔗 Sumber: www.beincrypto.com

📌 MAROKO133 Hot crypto: Ethereum $159B Stablecoin Dominance: Why Infrastructure Be

Ethereum (ETH) price action is stalling near $2,000, but the on-chain reality of its stablecoin advantage tells a radically different story.

The network now commands over 53%, or $159 billion, of the $300 billion stablecoin market, cementing its status as the settlement layer for Institutional Crypto.

So, while the ETH price chart usually looks flat nowadays, the infrastructure moat is arguably deeper than ever.

The $159B Stablecoin Moat: Why Institutions Stick with Ethereum

Jeff Housenbold is betting on infrastructure. The President and CEO of Beast Industries (the company behind the viral MrBeast brand) recently termed Ethereum the “backbone” of the stablecoin industry in an interview with CNBC.

That assessment aligns with hard data. As of today, Ethereum hosts $159 billion of the market’s total $300 billion stablecoin supply.

This dominance persists because, arguably, institutional crypto use cases value settlement finality over speed.

While Beast Industries expands its fintech footprint following the acquisition of Step, a financial literacy app with 1.45 million users, the focus remains on where the deepest liquidity lives.

Housenbold’s firm, which also oversees a $200 million investment from Bitmine, isn’t chasing pump-and-dump mechanics. They are looking at the rails moving $10.3 trillion in monthly transfer volume.

That volume matters. While price continues trading sideways, Wall Street institutions are eyeing Ethereum. The 2024 GENIUS Act provided regulatory clarity for stablecoin issuers, but it was Ethereum’s existent liquidity that captured the institutional share.

The sheer market share of USDT ($183 billion) and USDC ($75 billion) on the network creates a self-reinforcing loop. Institutions mint where the liquidity is deepest. That lock-in effect is why the supply on Ethereum’s headstart on the stablecoin sector will be a tough challenge for rivals like Ripple to navigate.

Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with

Solana and Base: The Retail Volume Shift

While Ethereum holds the collateral, retail users are transacting elsewhere. That is the clear signal from recent Stablecoins flow data.

Solana’s stablecoin supply surged 40% in late 2025, outpacing Ethereum’s percentage growth, according to BitWise research analyst Danny Nelson. Traders chasing speed and low fees have migrated, driving Solana to 2.3 million daily active users compared to Ethereum’s 709,000.

Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2, processed $5.3 trillion in January 2026 Circle (USDC) transfers despite holding a fraction of the supply found on mainnet.

This points to a high velocity of money on Layer 2, i.e., tokens moving fast in small amounts, versus the stagnant, high-value collateral sitting on Ethereum.

Circle is a primary beneficiary of this multi-chain expansion. The issuer recently saw revenue surges as USDC proliferates across high-speed chains.

However, for Ethereum, the loss of retail transaction dominance hasn’t eroded its reserve status. It has simply specialized: Ethereum is the savings account; Solana and Base are the checking accounts.

Beyond the Stablecoin Advantage, Is $2,000 the Floor for Ethereum?

Ethereum is trading at $1,960. The price has compressed into a tight range, lagging behind the broader market rally. The $2,000 level is now the critical psychological and technical pivot that will help ETH consolidate its current ground and go up to the next leg.

Losing this support level could put Ethereum in freefall, which may not break until $1,500, effectively invalidating all gains since the post-FTX 2021/2022 crash.

Supply dynamics favored a move higher. 31% of the total ETH supply is now staked, removing over 10 million coins from circulation since 2024.

That supply shock is latent energy. Standard Chartered sees this leading to $7,500 by year-end, but the market needs a catalyst to ignite it.

For now, momentum indicators are neutral. The RSI is sittin…

Konten dipersingkat otomatis.

🔗 Sumber: cryptonews.com