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The cryptocurrency industry is gaining increasing adoption with traditional finance. The latest signal of this adoption comes from Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade, the online brokerage firm, which plans to launch digital asset trading by 2026.
Morgan Stanley partners with ZeroHash for crypto expansion
In a post on X, Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s Head of Digital Assets Research, shared that E*Trade will commence in the first half of 2026. In order to get off to a smooth start, Morgan Stanley is partnering with ZeroHash.
Morgan Stanley first dropped the hint in May 2025, as reported by U.Today. The banking giant expressed its desire to explore crypto more deeply, given the favorable regulatory environment. Worth mentioning is that the bank backed Bitcoin in 2021 with some institutional funds.
ZeroHash is a renowned crypto infrastructure provider that offers trading and settlement services. To ensure a seamless launch, Morgan Stanley will invest $100 million directly into ZeroHash. The capital will be raised through a fundraising round.
There are other notable names in the deal, and this includes Interactive Brokers, which will lead the funding round. Other investors are SoFi, Jump Trading and Apollo Global Management Funds. The total valuation of this has been pegged at $1 billion.
The move signals that mainstream Wall Street players are increasingly deepening their commitment to crypto assets. The institutional adoption might be closely linked to a shift in crypto regulation in the U.S. following this new administration.
Notably, major banks are beginning to consider crypto services for their customers as demand soars. If this trend continues, cryptocurrency will move from being just a fringe asset, and it could see rapid integration into the broader financial market, given its growing potential and user base.
Crypto adoption increasing in traditional finance space
There has been an increased effort by traditional institutions to adopt crypto. JPMorgan Chase and Coinbase recently sealed a partnership deal to make crypto access easier for users. The collaboration would allow customers to use Chase credit cards to make purchases on Coinbase.
Other benefits of the collaboration are that, from 2026, users will be able to redeem rewards and also link their Chase accounts directly to Coinbase. These are part of a broader integration between traditional finance and crypto.
Amid these collaborations, Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s CLO, has identified some key barriers to faster adoption of crypto. These include a lack of awareness about the workings of the asset class and wrong ideas about crypto.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team