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Why Morgan Stanley’s CFO sees tokenization as the next big step for its multitrillion-dollar wealth business

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Why Morgan Stanley's CFO sees tokenization as the next big step for its multitrillion-dollar wealth business

Morgan Stanley is signaling a growing focus on tokenization and blockchain-based infrastructure, framing “onchain” finance as a potential next step in how it serves wealth clients.

Speaking during the bank’s first-quarter earnings call, executives described a future where assets and liabilities move more freely across digital rails. “How do you think of a tokenized world? How do you think of an onchain world where you can move assets quickly, the same way you’d be able to move those liabilities quickly?” Sharon Yeshaya, the firm’s chief financial officer, said, pointing to a shift beyond traditional account-based systems.

The comments carry added weight given the scale of Morgan Stanley’s wealth business, which oversees trillions in client assets and serves as a central engine of the firm’s growth. Any change to how assets are moved, lent or advised on within that system could have wide-reaching implications across the financial industry.

The comments place tokenization within the bank’s core wealth strategy, not as a standalone crypto initiative. Executives tied the concept to client advisory, lending and cash management, suggesting that digital infrastructure could reshape how portfolios are managed and how clients access liquidity.

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“We would be there to offer different types of products on the asset side,” Yeshaya said, adding that the firm is also considering “what kinds of things might exist on the lending side for onchain… and how do you also move and think about all of those digital assets.”

The framing reflects a broader industry shift, in which large banks are increasingly exploring blockchain technology to modernize financial plumbing rather than disrupt it outright.

At Morgan Stanley, that approach remains measured but is quickly progressing.

The firm recently launched a digital asset pilot through a partnership with Zero Hash, allowing select E*Trade clients to buy and sell major cryptocurrencies. While limited in scope, the initiative gives the bank a controlled entry point into digital assets as it evaluates client demand.

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Morgan Stanley has also expanded its leadership in the space, appointing Amy Oldenburg as head of digital assets earlier this year. The firm has taken steps to offer bitcoin exposure through its own spot bitcoin ETF, MSBT, which is trading 8% higher since its launch a week ago.

Still, digital assets remain a small part of the business. Instead, the emphasis appears to be on long-term infrastructure. “There’s a lot of creative space in terms of the advice-driven model,” Yeshaya said.

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Crypto World

Bitcoin Stalls Below $75,000 amid Geopolitical Fog and Tax-Day Selling

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BTC Chart

ETH, SOL, and major altcoins are marginally higher on the day.

Bitcoin traded around $74,700 on Wednesday, consolidating just below the psychologically significant $75,000 level after retreating from a brief touch above $76,000 earlier this week.

Ethereum changed hands near $2,360, up roughly 2% on the day, while Solana rose to $85 and XRP climbed to $1.39, according to CoinGecko.

BTC Chart
BTC Chart

Among the Top 100 digital assets, DeFi lending protocols Aave and Morpho are today’s top gainers, up 8% and 7%, respectively.

Meanwhile, RaveDAO is the biggest loser after losing a quarter of its value overnight.

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The total crypto market cap stands at $2.61 trillion with 24-hour trading volume near $97 billion. Bitcoin dominance is steady at 57.2%, with Ethereum dominance at 10.9%, per CoinGecko.

ETF Flows Whipsaw

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $411.5 million in net inflows on Tuesday, according to SoSoValue data, the second-largest daily inflow day in April and enough to push 2026 year-to-date net flows back into positive territory. Total spot Bitcoin ETF assets under management surged above $96.5 billion.

BlackRock’s IBIT led with approximately $214 million, extending its inflow streak to five consecutive days totaling around $696 million.

The Tuesday inflows marked a sharp reversal from the previous day, when spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $325.8 million in net outflows, underscoring the tug-of-war between institutional demand and profit-taking in a range-bound market.

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Resistance at $75K

Bitcoin has struggled to sustain a break above $75,000, briefly piercing that level yesterday before pulling back to the low $74,000s. Since the onset of the U.S.-Iran conflict, BTC is up roughly 12%, benefiting from its perception as an apolitical store of value, but the rally has stalled at overhead resistance.

The geopolitical backdrop remains the dominant macro variable. Iran’s acceptance of Bitcoin as payment for Strait of Hormuz transit tolls, as confirmed by a spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, continues to ripple through markets.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan argued this week that Iran’s use of Bitcoin in sovereign trade positions it to eventually challenge gold’s $34 trillion market cap.

Three near-term catalysts could determine whether Bitcoin breaks higher or retests the $70,000 support zone: the April 15 tax deadline, the Iran ceasefire expiry on April 22, and the FOMC meeting on April 28–29.

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Bitwise Launchdx Avalanche ETF with Staking Exposure

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Bitwise Launchdx Avalanche ETF with Staking Exposure

Bitwise Asset Management has launched a spot Avalanche exchange-traded product, giving investors exposure to the Avalanche token while staking a portion of its holdings to generate yield.

Bitwise plans to stake roughly 70% of its AVAX holdings through its in-house infrastructure, while maintaining a liquidity reserve of about 30% to meet redemptions and operational needs.

The fund began trading Wednesday on the NYSE under the ticker BAVA, closing up about 1.5%, to $25.50 per share, according to Yahoo Finance. The Avalanche token (AVAX) was last trading at $9.52, up 1.8%, according to CoinMarketCap.

According to Wednesday’s announcement, the product carries a sponsor fee of 0.34%, with a temporary waiver to 0% for the first month on the first $500 million in assets, and is structured to distribute net investment income, including staking rewards, to shareholders periodically.

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The fund holds AVAX directly and uses an in-house staking unit, Bitwise Onchain Solutions, to participate in network validation and earn rewards, which are paid in additional tokens. Avalanche staking rewards were about 5.4% as of mid-April, according to the announcement.

Avalanche is a Layer-1 blockchain built for high throughput and low latency. It is used across tokenization and enterprise pilots, including initiatives tied to FIFA, state-level stablecoin efforts in Wyoming, and projects from companies such as Toyota and asset managers including BlackRock.

The new fund is the latest Avalanche fund development in recent weeks. Nasdaq last week filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list shares of the VanEck Avalanche Trust, a proposed ETF designed to provide exposure to AVAX under rules governing commodity-based trust shares.

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Related: CME Group expands crypto futures with Avalanche and Sui contracts

Bitcoin ETFs and DATs hold an increasing amount of Bitcoin

The launch of Bitwise’s Avalanche ETF comes as exchange-traded crypto products and publicly traded companies continue to accumulate a growing share of Bitcoin’s (BTC) circulating supply.

According to data from BitBO.io, Bitcoin ETFs hold more than 1.29 million BTC, or just over 6% of circulating supply. Public companies hold an additional 1.17 million BTC on their balance sheets, based on figures from BitcoinTreasuries.NET. Combined, ETFs and corporate holders now account for around 12% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply.

Among ETFs, accumulation is led by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, which holds about 791,000 BTC, or roughly 3.8% of total supply, followed by Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust with around 153,600 BTC, or about 0.7%.

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Bitcoin ETFs: BitBO.io

Beyond asset managers, banks are also entering the market. Earlier this month, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), the first spot Bitcoin ETF offered by a US bank, recorded $30.6 million in inflows on its trading debut and generated about $34 million in first-day volume.

On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs filed with the SEC to launch a Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund designed to generate income while limiting exposure to the cryptocurrency’s volatility. The proposed fund would invest in Bitcoin ETPs and sell call options to generate income while limiting exposure to price swings.

Among public companies, Strategy, the first Bitcoin treasury company, chaired by Michael Saylor, holds 780,897 Bitcoin, or around 4% of the total supply. 

Governments also collectively hold around 3% of circulating Bitcoin, with around 649,870 BTC on their balance sheets. The United States is the largest holder with about 328,000 BTC, followed by China with roughly 190,000 BTC and the United Kingdom with more than 61,000 BTC.

Bitcoin’s price has fallen from its high of around $126,000 in October, and is trading around $75,100, per CoinGecko data.

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Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt