Morgan Stanley launches cryptocurrency research team

Published at: Sept. 15, 2021

Morgan Stanley, one of the largest banks in the United States, is setting up a new crypto-focused research division.

The Wall Street megabank has appointed Sheena Shah as lead cryptocurrency analyst for its dedicated cryptocurrency research team, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Shah worked as Morgan Stanley’s lead currency strategist covering G10 currencies for more than eight years and contributed to the bank’s crypto-related research efforts.

In the new role, Shah will reportedly focus on analyzing the impact of cryptocurrencies on equities and fixed-income investments such as treasury and corporate bonds. 

Announcing the news in a memo to staff, Morgan Stanley’s executives stressed that the launch of a dedicated crypto research team “is in recognition of the growing significance of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets in global markets.”

As previously reported, Morgan Stanley has been pushing into digital assets over the past year, steadily growing its direct exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) through several investment funds by Grayscale Investments. In March, Morgan Stanley reportedly introduced a Bitcoin investment tool for millionaire clients.

Related: Wells Fargo files for Bitcoin fund

The news comes as the traditional finance industry continues diving into crypto amid the parabolic growth of the cryptocurrency market. The total market value of all cryptocurrencies has added more than $1 trillion dollars over the past year, jumping from around $350 billion one year ago to $2.1 trillion at the time of writing.

Major U.S. banks have been rushing to establish crypto-related units recently, with Bank of America setting up a crypto research division in July. State Street, the second-oldest continuously operating U.S. bank, previously announced the launch of a dedicated digital finance division. Wall Street megabanks JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Group also rolled out crypto trading services this year.

Tags
Technology
Blockchain
Bitcoin
United States
Wall Street
Cryptocurrencies
Research
Banks
Morgan Stanley
Related Posts
Bitcoin genesis block is the ‘New Testament’ of finance
“Fiat lux”, said God, having created heaven and earth, which was filled with darkness. And then, there was light. At least, that’s what the Holy Bible tells us. Translated to English, this Latin phrase means “let light be made.” For Christians, who much of the global population, these words mark the beginning of time and everything else. Eventually, there came a time when audacious, power-hungry, control-freak governments took the word “fiat” (literally meaning “it shall be” or “let it be done”) and used it to disguise one of the biggest shams ever — fiat currencies. Eons later, in 2009 A.D., …
Decentralization / Oct. 17, 2020
Crypto banks are going to swallow fiat banks in 3 years — or even less
Within a few years, a younger generation of financial services customers are going to be able to walk into a bank and gain access to credit products, savings accounts and investments that can host both crypto and fiat assets. In fact, the inroads that will allow for all of this to happen are already breaking ground. You probably already know that Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange based out of San Francisco, is now the first-ever cryptocurrency business in the United States to become a bank. For now, being an officially chartered bank means that Kraken will be able to offer more …
Technology / Oct. 10, 2020
Bitcoin Is a Paradigm Shift Beyond Wall Street
When the Goldman Sachs report came out dismissing Bitcoin’s status as an asset class, there was significant backlash from the crypto community. This is understandable, as for those building in crypto, the points against Bitcoin didn’t make sense. For nearly a decade of my career, I was a banker at Goldman, but decided to leave Wall Street to join an incredible group of people at OKCoin, who are on a mission to make crypto trading easy and accessible for everyone around the world. Having been on both sides, I can appreciate why Goldman Sachs analysts made certain arguments in their …
Decentralization / June 4, 2020
Crypto Bahamas: Regulations enter critical stage as gov't shows interest
The crypto community and Wall Street converged last week in Nassau, Bahamas, to discuss the future of digital assets during SALT’s Crypto Bahamas conference. The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference (SALT) was also co-hosted this year by FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, kicked off Crypto Bahamas with a press conference explaining that the goal behind the event was to merge the traditional financial world with the crypto community: “Crypto Bahamas combines the crypto native FTX audience with the SkyBridge asset management firm audience. We are bringing these two worlds together to create a …
Adoption / May 3, 2022
What the SEC can learn from the German regulator
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s chairperson Gary Gensler announced this month that the crypto industry should not escape the purview of the regulator. He highlighted that decentralized finance (DeFi) trading and lending protocols need particular attention when it comes to investor protections. Regulation can extend into a menu of options that covers custody, reporting, counterparty verification and asset classification and issuance. Reports are surfacing that people are waiting with bated breath on how the SEC will regulate the DeFi industry, but Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, also known as BaFin, has found a way to apply existing securities …
Technology / Aug. 12, 2021