Morgan Stanley has established a “digital asset lab” to test cryptocurrency products including stablecoins, tokenized assets, and decentralized finance applications, according to Bloomberg reporting on September 29, 2026.
Megan Brewer, head of firmwide market innovation and labs at Morgan Stanley, described the facility as a “secure, compliant and segregated environment to be able to test and explore some of these new areas of digital assets.”
The lab will evaluate products spanning tokenized deposits, central bank digital currencies, and tokenized money market funds. Morgan Stanley operates multiple labs to test new products, and this digital asset lab represents an expansion into cryptocurrency infrastructure.
The move follows Morgan Stanley’s April 2026 debut of the Bitcoin Trust ETF, which held $871 million in assets under management. The bank became the first to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, cementing its position as an early institutional adopter of crypto-native products.
Morgan Stanley began offering wealthy clients bitcoin exposure in 2021 through Galaxy Digital funds. CEO and Chairman Ted Pick stated the bank was working with regulators on safe crypto product offerings. Amy Oldenburg, head of digital assets at Morgan Stanley, identified client education as the central challenge to Bitcoin adoption, rather than product design constraints.
Top banks worldwide are developing products using Bitcoin’s underlying technology, though Morgan Stanley’s lab signals a deeper commitment to testing applications beyond spot bitcoin exposure. The bank has not specified when the lab was established or provided timelines for launching products developed through the facility.
