Morgan Stanley’s Crypto Revolution: 3 Digital Assets Coming to E*Trade by 2026

Wall Street's institutional embrace accelerates as banking giant Morgan Stanley prepares to launch cryptocurrency trading on its E*Trade platform within two years.

The Strategic Trio

Morgan Stanley isn't dipping toes—it's diving deep with three targeted digital assets that represent the institutional sweet spot between established credibility and growth potential. The selection criteria scream traditional finance values wrapped in blockchain clothing.

Timeline Matters

2026 isn't just another year on the calendar—it's a strategic window that gives Morgan Stanley enough runway to navigate regulatory hurdles while positioning ahead of the next anticipated crypto cycle. Because nothing says 'serious' like waiting for the paperwork to clear.

Institutional Validation

When a firm that manages billions for the wealthiest clients starts offering crypto access to retail investors through E*Trade, it signals a fundamental shift in acceptance. The same institution that once warned clients about crypto risks now prepares to profit from them—how very Wall Street.

Get ready—the traditional finance gates are opening wider than ever, and Morgan Stanley plans to collect the tolls.

Image source: Getty Images.

The differences between Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana

Bitcoin, the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, has a market cap of about $2.3 trillion. It's mined with the energy-intensive proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanism, in which its miners receive rewards for solving complex cryptographic puzzles with their computing systems.

Bitcoin has a maximum supply of 21 million coins, and 19.9 million of those have already been mined. The final bitcoins are expected to be mined in 2140. Every four years, a scheduled halving cuts its mining rewards in half to throttle the rate at which new Bitcoin is produced. That scarcity makes it comparable to digital gold, but Bitcoin's blockchain doesn't support the development of other applications or tokens.

Ether, the world's second most valuable cryptocurrency with a market cap of about $500 billion, is the native coin of the ethereum blockchain. Ether was once mined with a PoW mechanism like Bitcoin, but it transitioned to the more energy-efficient proof of stake (PoS) mechanism in 2022.

After that transition, Ether could no longer be mined. Instead, it could be staked -- or locked up on the blockchain for interest-like rewards. As a PoS blockchain, Ethereum also gained support for smart contracts, which are used to create decentralized apps (dApps), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other tokenized assets.

Ether has a circulating supply of 120.7 million coins, and the supply can either increase or shrink based on its network activity. Some coins are burned (removed from circulation) with every transaction as a "gas (user) fee, so its supply decreases as more people use its network. But when fewer people use its network, its supply increases faster than its burn rate. Therefore, Ether is often valued by the growth of its developer ecosystem instead of the scarcity of its tokens.

Solana, with a market cap of $108 billion, is the second-largest PoS crypto after Ethereum. Like Ethereum, solana was built with decentralized app developers in mind. But by integrating its own proof of history (PoH) mechanism (which timestamps transactions before they're validated) into its Layer 1 PoS blockchain, Solana can achieve much higher speeds than Ethereum's Layer 1 blockchain. Solana has a real-world max speed of 2,000-3,000 transactions per second (TPS), compared to Ethereum's maximum speed of 18 TPS.

But unlike Ether, Solana is a crypto with a steadily growing supply. There are currently 610.7 million Solana coins in circulation, and it's reducing its annual supply growth rate (which started at 8% in 2020) by 15% each year until it reaches its "terminal" annual growth rate of 1.5%.

Solana gained 7,625 new developers in 2024 (an 83% increase from 2023), while Ethereum only gained 6,456 new developers. It also hosted some big token launches this year, including thememe coin andstablecoin.

Should E*Trade's customers buy these three tokens?

All three coins have plenty of catalysts on the horizon. Bitcoin's value should rise as more institutional investors recognize it as a hedge against inflation and the devaluation of fiat currencies. Ether's value will grow as the Ethereum blockchain attracts more developers, and its LAYER 2 blockchains (which bundle together its Layer 1 transactions and process them off-chain at higher speeds) should help it keep pace with Solana. Solana's price could climb as its planned network upgrades and potential ETFs draw in more developers and investors.

I'm a longtime E*Trade customer, and I'm already invested in bitcoin and Ether through(BITB 4.83%) and(ETHW 4.08%). Once E*Trade offers direct crypto trades, I'd consider swapping out those ETFs for the actual tokens -- since they won't be held by third-party firms or be subject to recurring fees. So if you're also an E*Trade customer like me, it might be smart to nibble on these three tokens when they arrive.