Banking Giant Mole-Handles Bitcoin: A Drama in Cold Storage

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Key Highlights

  • Morgan Stanley has applied to the SEC to launch a Bitcoin Trust that actually holds real bitcoin.
  • Most of the digital coins will be stowed away by Coinbase Custody in offline “cold” vaults, with the Bank of New York Mellon also humming along as custodian.
  • The bank has petitioned the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to create a new house called Morgan Stanley Digital Trust.

Regulatory paperwork has been filed by Morgan Stanley, offering investors a gentler way to dabble in bitcoin than purchasing or holding it personally. The scheme promises the privilege of sitting in on the digital frenzy without the risk of having your keys stolen from a bunker.

Coinbase to manage the Bitcoin storage

The filing spells out that Coinbase Custody will keep the bulk of the coins in secure, offline “cold storage” vaults, where private keys stay disconnected from the wiretapped world of the internet. A small sprinkling might surface in trading wallets whenever shares are created or redeemed. The trust does have insurance, but it is shared among customers and “may not be sufficient to cover all losses.”

Plan for operations and administration

BNY will play several supporting roles: fund administrator, transfer agent and cash custodian. In practice, this means the bank will keep the ledgers, watch over share‑holder data and shuffle the cash needed for ETF transactions.

The trust positions itself as a passive vehicle, tracking bitcoin’s price by holding the cryptocurrency itself rather than using derivatives or leverage. The Net Asset Value will be calculated using the CoinDesk Bitcoin Benchmark 4 PM New‑York Settlement Rate, a daily reference price compiled from major spot exchanges.

Morgan Stanley files for national trust bank charter

Simultaneously, the bank has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter, aiming to birth a new entity titled Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association. The application hit the desk on February 18, with a publishing window that closes on March 20.

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2026-03-04 17:57