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Morgan Stanley Figuring Out How to Act as Transactors of Crypto, CEO Says

Morgan Stanley will work with the U.S. Treasury and other regulators to figure out how it can offer crypto in a safe way.

Jan 23, 2025, 4:49 p.m.
Morgan Stanley (Shutterstock)
(Shutterstock)

What to know:

  • Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick said the bank is figuring out how it can act as a transactor in the crypto market.
  • Morgan Stanley will work with the U.S. Treasury and other regulators to figure out how it can offer crypto in a safe way, Pick said in an interview with CNBC.

Morgan Stanley (MS) is figuring out how it can act as a transactor in the crypto market, CEO Ted Pick said.

The bank, which has some $1.6 trillion of assets under management, will work with the U.S. Treasury and other regulators to figure out how it can offer crypto in a safe way, Pick said in an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday.

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“For us, the equation is really around whether we, as a highly-regulated financial institution, can act as transactors,” he said.

Pick had been asked about his views on cryptocurrency in the U.S. under the supposedly pro-crypto presidency of Donald Trump.

He described how Morgan Stanley is assessing whether the crypto industry has come of age as an asset class.

"I think there is liquidity and that liquidity will express itself in all kinds of different ways," Pick said in an apparent reference to the availability of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S.

U.S. spot bitcoin (BTC) ETFs now hold a combined $39 billion worth of the largest cryptocurrency and first started trading in early January last year.

Read More: New Bitcoin ETF Promises 100% Downside Protection Against Price Volatility. Here Is How

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Sanctions-related activity accounted for 86% of illicit crypto flows last year, with most of those flows routed through stablecoin platforms, according to TRM Labs.

What to know:

  • Illicit entities received $141 billion in stablecoins in 2025, more than half of it linked to the ruble-pegged A7A5 token, whose executives dispute claims that their operations are illegal.
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  • A745's director for Regulatory and Overseas Affairs disputed the findings.