Bitcoin FOMO is catching on with major banks.

Welcome to the US Crypto News Morning Briefing: your essential report on the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.

As niche players expand their services, big banks dip their toes into Bitcoin and crypto, grabbing coffee. The US banking sector is showing that crypto is becoming part of the mainstream playbook, after years of operating as a cool experiment.

Crypto News of the Day: Morgan Stanley's Crypto FOMO Triggered by Bitcoin and Solana ETF Filing

Bank of America (BofA) picked up pace in 2026 when it officially began advising wealth management clients to allocate up to 4% of their portfolios to digital assets. This shows clear support that crypto is a legitimate part of various strategies.

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At the time of this initial launch, BeenCrypto first reported BofA's plans in early December, indicating that the bank would begin coverage of four Bitcoin ETFs, including BITB, FBTC, Grayscale Mini Trust, and IBIT, starting January 5, 2026.

Today, Morgan Stanley joined the wave, filing for Bitcoin and Solana ETFs, marking another major institutional endorsement.

Morgan Stanley's S-1 filing is a significant milestone in TradFi's crypto adoption. With $1.6 trillion in assets under management (AUM), the bank is expanding client access to both Bitcoin and Solana through integrated investment vehicles.

The move reflects a trend for Wall Street firms to turn regulatory filings into substantive testing.

Together, the two developments show how traditional financial institutions are responding to market FOMO before customer demand outstrips their capabilities.

In a recent post, Eric Trump said, “In 4 months, we've built one of the fastest growing and strongest Bitcoin companies on Earth. We're proud to announce that US Bitcoin recently entered the #19 largest public Bitcoin treasury….

Other US banks have also been expanding their crypto footprint for some time. JPMorgan Chase maintains long-term involvement through initiatives such as JPM Coin, a bank-issued token for blockchain-based payments. It is also building extensive infrastructure projects around digital assets.

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Goldman Sachs maintains crypto trading desks and is offering institutional clients renewed access to crypto markets. Citigroup has expressed interest in exploring custodial and trading services, though still in its early stages.

Charles Schwab has announced plans to offer direct trading of Bitcoin and Ethereum through client platforms, and PNC Bank has partnered with Coinbase to enable seamless crypto trading through its clients' accounts.

Banks will experiment with Crypto-Native products as they adopt regulatory transparency

State Street is developing stablecoins and tokenized assets, including bonds and money market stocks. This shows that banks' attempts to target crypto-native financial products go beyond trading and regulation.

In protection-focused services, US Bank (US Bancorp) continues to offer Bitcoin protection for institutional managers, including ETF protection.

“…We are excited to continue offering this service this year. Following greater regulatory transparency, we have expanded our offering of bitcoin ETFs, allowing us to provide full-service solutions to managers seeking protection and management services,” said Stephen Phillipson, US Bank's vice chairman of wealth, corporate, commercial and institutional banking, in a September announcement.

Meanwhile, BNY Mellon remains an early mover to secure BTC and ETH holdings on separate platforms.

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Specialized crypto banks and fintech partnerships are also playing a role.

Crypto River Bank, FDIC-insured, has partnered with Coinbase to facilitate crypto transactions through APIs. Anchorage Digital became the first federally chartered crypto bank in the US to focus on institutional protection and blockchain services. Custodia Bank, formerly Avanti Bank, offers crypto-specialized services under a Wyoming charter, reflecting the growing ecosystem of banks dedicated to digital assets.

Control speed was a key enabler. Updated guidance from the Federal Reserve, OCC and FDIC now allows banks to hold crypto assets, facilitate trades and offer digital asset services.

This transparency has encouraged traditional institutions to publicly display their crypto offerings instead of leaving them passive spectators. This creates a tipping point for wider adoption.

The trends are:

Protection and institutional products represent the first wave of adoption, followed by wealth management and ETFs, the cooperation with the exchange allows banks to enter the market without building a complete infrastructure in-house.

As regulatory uncertainty grows, more institutions are expected to follow suit, further cementing crypto's place in mainstream finance.

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Here's a roundup of more US crypto news to watch today:

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