Banking plan big get into crypto

Speaking to CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Peake said the bank is working with U.S. regulators on how to enter the market.

This is a major breach in the sea of ​​cryptocurrency by traditional financial corporations, making the industry's dream of institutional adoption a reality.

Institutional adoption of Crypto is happening.

Institutional adoption has always been a key component of the broader industry roadmap. Major US banks like Morgan Stanley have been ignoring Bitcoin and other crypto assets. Then they mocked them and ridiculed them as criminals, if not impractical and stupid.

But now major players in corporate finance, such as investment management giant BlackRock and now Morgan Stanley, have entered the fray. Jamie Dimon's JP Morgan & Co. may still be a holdover on crypto, but its competitors are entering the fray with big ambitions to remake the world using blockchain techniques and platforms.

When asked about his views on cryptocurrencies, Sorkin said the bank is ready to act. But he wants to be sure of this with regulatory approval: “For us, as a highly regulated financial institution, it's an equation of whether or not we act as transactors.”

That will allow Morgan Stanley to use blockchain and offer cryptographic services to its clients. “We're working with the Treasury and other regulators to figure out how we can deliver safely,” Peake said.

Morgan Stanley has taken the lead on Bitcoin.

Morgan Stanley is a leviathan in the traditional financial world. But he was quicker than his competitors to jump on the blockchain bandwagon with Moon Men. In the year In 2021, it was among the first US banks to offer BTC custody services to wealthy clients.

In the year During the Bitcoin ETF rush of 2024, Midtown Manhattan Banking has taken the lead in buying BTC exchange-traded funds. Last year, the company revealed a $269 million investment in Bitcoin ETFs.

Peak statements on CNBC from Davos weren't the only good news for crypto from the banking sector this week. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said if regulators give their go-ahead, “you're going to find the banking system very difficult on the trading side.”