Morgan Stanley will soon allow all clients — including those with retirement accounts — to invest in cryptocurrency funds, lifting the wealth and risk‑profile barriers that had previously excluded most investors, CNBC reported Friday.
Starting Oct. 15, financial advisors at the $8.2 trillion wealth manager will be able to recommend bitcoin and ether products from issuers such as BlackRock and Fidelity across its full client base. Until now, only customers with at least $1.5 million in assets and an “aggressive” risk rating could access crypto exposure, and only through taxable brokerage accounts.
The decision marks a major broadening of access to digital assets within one of Wall Street’s most established advisory networks. It follows a flood of demand since U.S. regulators approved spot bitcoin and ether exchange‑traded funds in 2024 — products that have attracted more than $77 billion in inflows, according to The Block ETF data.
Looser Federal Stance
Morgan Stanley’s move lands amid a shift in Washington toward friendlier treatment of alternative assets in retirement plans. In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission to ease restrictions on 401(k) investments in crypto, gold, and private equity.
While the order itself didn’t alter existing law, it revoked previous guidance discouraging crypto holdings in retirement portfolios and gave regulators 180 days to propose new rules or safe harbors. Since then, the Labor Department has issued advisory opinions indicating it will reduce liability risks for plan sponsors that include such assets.
Together, those signals have opened the door for major financial institutions to expand crypto options for mainstream savers — a move that would have been politically unthinkable two years ago when regulators were warning of “extreme volatility” and investor harm.
Morgan Stanley’s Global Investment Committee has also laid out fresh guidelines for digital assets. In an Oct. 1 note circulated to advisors, the bank suggested crypto allocations of up to 4 % in diversified portfolios, depending on client risk tolerance. Conservative accounts would hold none, while “opportunistic growth” models could include the maximum.
The committee described cryptocurrencies as “speculative and increasingly popular,” warning that investors should rebalance regularly to prevent outsized exposure as prices swing.
The firm’s willingness to open crypto to retirement clients signals growing comfort with the asset class’s maturation, particularly as bitcoin and ether ETFs trade on major exchanges under SEC oversight. It also positions Morgan Stanley ahead of peers still weighing how to integrate digital assets into fiduciary portfolios.
For many investors, the new policy may be their first legitimate route to crypto exposure inside a retirement wrapper. It aligns with a broader trend of digital assets entering traditional finance — from ETFs and trust products to custody and advisory services.
“It’s an acknowledgment that crypto has become part of the investable universe,” said one person familiar with the bank’s strategy. “Clients have been asking for this access for years.”