Morgan Stanley Goes All In on Crypto

The Breakdown

Blockworks

Investing, Business

4.8 • 806 Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Morgan Stanley makes a major bet on crypto adoption by filing for in-house Bitcoin and Solana ETFs, a sharp reversal that signals real demand inside its massive wealth management network and another step toward crypto becoming table stakes for traditional finance. The episode also covers MSCI’s decision to keep MicroStrategy in its indexes, the resulting rebound across crypto treasury companies and miners, and why index inclusion still matters so much for price action. Finally, there’s an update from Washington, where a crypto market structure bill heads toward a contentious committee vote, with stablecoin yield, AML provisions, and banking lobby pressure setting up one of the clearest regulatory showdowns yet. Enjoying this content? SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast: https://pod.link/1438693620 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakdownBW Subscribe to the newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the discussion: https://discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8 Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownBW

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.
0:09.3	It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world.
0:18.3	What's going on, guys? It is Wednesday, January 7th, and today we are talking about Morgan
0:22.7	Stanley's big crypto adoption bet. Before we get into that, however, if you are enjoying the breakdown,
0:28.2	please go subscribe to it, give it a rating, give it a review, or if you want to dive deeper into
0:31.8	the conversation, come join us on the Breakers Discord. You can find a link in the show notes or go to
0:35.8	bit.ly slash breakdown pod.
0:38.3	All right, friends, another positive set of news today. Morgan Stanley is committing to crypto
0:43.2	adoption in a big way, applying for Bitcoin and Solana ETFs on Tuesday. Both products will be
0:48.9	plain vanilla ETFs tracking the price of the underlying token without attempting to earn yield
0:53.0	through option strategies or staking. Now, for those who aren't in the financial industry, it's not super obvious why
0:58.9	another Bitcoin ETF would move the needle. The space is already crowded with well-established
1:02.8	leaders in BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise, and Grayscale. However, the financial professionals
1:07.2	saw this move as a huge moment. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Belcunis declared this news to be a shocker.
1:13.6	His colleague James Safart tweeted,
1:14.6	Can honestly say I am very surprised by these, didn't see this coming.
1:18.6	I've been saying for literal years that most of these firms will change their tune on crypto.
1:22.6	But it was really just a couple of months ago that Morgan Stanley advisors were barred from buying crypto
1:26.6	ETFs for their clients. And indeed, Morgan Stanley's advisor network is why this move matters.
1:31.9	The bank has over 19 million clients for their wealth management division, representing around
1:36.0	$6.5 trillion in assets under management. As Zafart mentioned, Morgan Stanley had prohibited
1:40.9	their advisors from suggesting crypto exposure up until October, so this
	...

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