🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

A wave of crypto firms and Wall Street giants are using a regulatory change

• The approvals Senator Warren is questioning sit within a broader recent pattern.
• In 83 days, 11 companies filed for or received conditional national trust bank charter approvals. The group included Fidelity Digital Assets, Crypto.com, and Morgan Stanley 1.
• The burst followed a regulatory change that took effect on April 1, 2026.
• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) revised 12 CFR 5.20, a federal banking rule. It replaced “fiduciary activities” with “operations of a trust company and activities related thereto.” The OCC said the change clears up what national trust banks can do and supports the view that they may handle non-fiduciary work such as custody, meaning safeguarding assets for clients 1.

Morgan Stanley’s move brings build-or-buy choices into focus

• Morgan Stanley applied to form Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, National Association, a national trust bank to hold certain digital assets for clients and facilitate fiduciary staking, which generally means managing assets on behalf of clients while earning rewards from helping support a blockchain network 2.
• With US$9.3 trillion in client assets, the firm chose to build custody and trading capabilities in-house. It did not address the charter application directly in public remarks 2.
• The move puts more weight on other large banks as they decide whether to build digital-asset operations or buy them 2.
• The model could still face legal and policy challenges. A 2026 working paper by GW Law’s Arthur E. Wilmarth Jr. argues that the OCC’s national trust bank charter approvals for crypto-related nonfiduciary activities break several federal statutes. It also argues that those approvals should be rescinded, which could raise litigation risk 3.