A top Morgan Stanley executive said the prospect of the bank adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet is “not totally out of the question,” a notable statement that hinges on at least 16 months of ongoing regulatory progress and further alignment on capital rules.
“If we continue to see the progress that we’ve made over the last 16 months or so in regulatory, that that’s something that you may see going forward,” Amy Oldenburg, head of digital assets strategy at Morgan Stanley, said during a panel at the Bitcoin 2026 conference on April 30.
The primary barrier remains the Basel Committee’s proposed 1,250% risk-weight for unbacked crypto assets, a treatment that makes holding Bitcoin directly on a bank’s balance sheet economically unviable. Oldenburg also pointed to the need for “a little bit more alignment across the board” from US regulators like the Federal Reserve, even after the recent rollback of the SEC's SAB 121 accounting guidance.
Oldenburg’s comments frame balance-sheet Bitcoin as a procedural possibility rather than an imminent plan, increasing pressure on global regulators ahead of the Basel Committee's expected update on its crypto standard later in 2026. For a global systemically important bank (G-SIB) like Morgan Stanley, which manages $9.2 trillion in client assets, a clear regulatory framework is the final gate before it could consider holding Bitcoin as a treasury asset.
Oldenburg's cautious optimism is grounded in a complex regulatory environment. While the Federal Reserve's withdrawal of earlier crypto guidance in April 2025 improved the backdrop, the core issue for a G-SIB is satisfying multiple supervisors at once. "When you’re a large G-sub bank, it’s not just one agency that you report to," Oldenburg said, highlighting the need for consistent rules across jurisdictions.
The Basel Committee's standard is the most significant hurdle. Industry advocates, including the Bitcoin Policy Institute, argue the 1,250% risk-weight is punitive and discourages bank participation. The committee's expedited review, announced in February 2026, is now a focal point for institutions like Morgan Stanley that are navigating client demand for crypto exposure.
While direct holdings remain hypothetical, Morgan Stanley is actively competing in the spot Bitcoin ETF market. Its Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) has attracted $10.81 million in the last week of April, maintaining a record of zero net daily outflows since its inception, according to SoSoValue data. With an annual fee of 0.14%, MSBT is positioned to challenge market leaders.
In contrast, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which charges a 0.25% fee, recently saw its 13-day streak of inflows end, posting a net outflow of $166.98 million over the same period. Despite the outflow, IBIT's scale remains massive, holding approximately $61.11 billion in Bitcoin.
Oldenburg noted that the firm is working to close a significant "education problem," drawing a clear line between Bitcoin and the broader crypto market for clients. The bank has recommended a 2-4% portfolio allocation to Bitcoin, a guideline that could eventually steer hundreds of billions of dollars into the asset class if adopted widely by its client base. For now, initial flows into MSBT have come from self-directed accounts, as the product is still being rolled out to the advisory platform.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
