Wall Street Giants Morgan Stanley & Schwab Dive Into Crypto as Regulatory Chains Loosen

Traditional finance’s old guard finally smells blood in the water—crypto trading desks are getting greenlit as Washington’s anti-crypto fever breaks. Morgan Stanley preps client Bitcoin access while Schwab quietly builds infrastructure, because nothing accelerates innovation like the fear of missing out on 20% quarterly gains.

Behind the scenes: SEC enforcement actions dropped 38% year-over-year, signaling a pragmatic shift (or perhaps just regulatory exhaustion). The suits still hate decentralization—but they’ll tolerate it if they can skim 1.5% in custody fees.

Bonus jab: Watch how fast ’blockchain skepticism’ evaporates when wirehouses realize they can repackage memecoins as ’alternative duration yield vehicles.’

Why are these banks moving towards crypto?

The timing of these announcements aligns with a broader regulatory shift in the United States.

Under President Donald Trump’s administration, federal agencies have taken significant steps to lift restrictions on banks interacting with digital assets.

In January, the US Securities and Exchange Commission repealed Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which had discouraged banks from holding digital assets on their balance sheets.

The US Federal Reserve soon relaxed its rules on crypto partnerships for banks, removing the requirement for prior approval.

In addition, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) have issued similar guidance, granting banks more freedom to operate in the crypto space.

These developments are already influencing behavior across the financial sector. Several crypto-native firms have begun efforts to secure banking licenses, while traditional institutions are actively seeking ways to remain competitive in a rapidly changing landscape.