Morgan Stanley executives stated that financial markets are evolving towards 24/7 trading and real-time settlement, rewriting the traditional banking operating model that relies on fixed business hours. The bank believes that the core driver of this change is not just cryptocurrency itself, but also the reshaping of financial infrastructure by asset tokenization.

24/7 Trading Enters Traditional Finance

Betsy Graseck, Global Head of Banking and Multi-Finance Research at Morgan Stanley, said in a discussion on digital asset business that the old method of processing transactions in batches is gradually fading out. As marketplace, payment, and custody systems upgrade, asset transfers are no longer limited to weekdays and business hours.

She stated that an increasing number of financial activities are migrating to digital assets. If institutions do not update their underlying systems, it will be difficult to keep up with changes in fund flows and customer needs.

Morgan Stanley expands its product line

Over the past year, Morgan Stanley has continued to expand its digital asset product portfolio. The bank recently launched spot trading of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana on its E*TRADE platform, and has also increased the availability of crypto ETFs for its wealth management clients.

• E*TRADE now offers spot trading in BTC, ETH, and SOL.
• Wealth management clients have access to more crypto ETF products.
• Asset management services have covered Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana ETFs.

In asset management, Morgan Stanley launched its first spot Bitcoin ETF earlier this year, and this week it launched spot Ethereum and Solana ETFs, showing that it is accelerating the completion of its digital asset investment product line.

Tokenized products first reach the general public

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management investment strategist Denny Galindo said that tokenized money market funds and tokenized stocks have expanded rapidly this year, and these products may bring blockchain technology to a wider range of investors before direct purchase of cryptocurrencies.

He believes that many traditional investors' previous exposure to digital assets was limited to Bitcoin. With the emergence of ETFs and more tokenized products, investors will begin to consider how to incorporate digital assets into their broader asset allocation.

Ali Wallace, Global Head of Capital Markets and ETF Strategy at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, also mentioned that market interest in multi-currency, multi-product digital asset ETFs is rising, which may become the next product direction.

Graseck believes this shift won't be completed in a few months, but the direction is already quite clear. For financial institutions, rebuilding their systems for 24/7 markets is moving from an option to a real need.