Morgan Stanley to Allow Agents to Sell Crypto Funds to Any Clients

Morgan Stanley reportedly told its financial agents Friday (Oct. 10) that beginning Wednesday (Oct. 15), they will be able to sell cryptocurrency funds to any clients.

The wealth management firm will also allow crypto investments in any type of account, CNBC reported Friday, citing unnamed sources.

Morgan Stanley did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

These policies mark a change for the firm because it previously allowed its financial agents to pitch crypto funds only to clients with at least $1.5 million in assets and an “aggressive risk tolerance,” according to the report. It also limited crypto to taxable brokerage accounts.

Together with these changes, Morgan Stanley will use an automated monitoring process to ensure clients are not too concentrated in crypto, the report said.

Morgan Stanley limits its advisors to pitching bitcoin funds from BlackRock and Fidelity, but it is considering adding more funds and other types of crypto, according to the report. The firm already allows clients to ask to be placed in any listed exchange-traded fund.

A report issued last month by Morgan Stanley’s global investment committee said, per the report, that the committee “considers cryptocurrency as a speculative and increasingly popular asset class that many investors, but not all, will seek to explore.”

It was reported in May that Morgan Stanley’s online stock trading arm, E-Trade, plans to add cryptocurrency trading to its platform in the first half of 2026.

The service will be enabled by a partnership of Morgan Stanley and digital asset infrastructure provider zerohash, and it will initially enable E-Trade clients to trade Bitcoin, Ether and Solana.

It was reported at that time that Morgan Stanley began offering bitcoin funds to wealth management clients about four years ago and has embraced crypto amid the policy changes that followed the election of President Donald Trump.

Zerohash announced in September that it raised $104 million in a Series D-2 funding round that included new participation from Morgan Stanley. Zerohash Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer Adam Berg said at the time in a press release: “Every financial institution is looking to provide access to the crypto asset class and innovate with this technology at scale.”