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Launched in 2012, Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN) is now the largest cryptocurrency trading exchange in the United States.
The brokerage firm Robinhood Markets (Nasdaq: HOOD), launched in 2013, has also become very popular among crypto traders.
But a Wall Street bank is now attempting to challenge these dominant players with lower fees.
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Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is launching crypto trading services with a cheaper pricing model on its E*Trade platform, Bloomberg reported on May 6.
The bank's pilot program charges a fee of 50 basis points on the dollar value of each crypto transaction and is expected to offer access to its 8.6 million clients later this year.
In contrast, exchanges like Coinbase, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab charge 60 to 95 basis points on transaction value.
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Morgan Stanley has already launched a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which has more than $230 million in net assets as of May 5, as per SoSoValue. The bank is also trying to launch ETFs linked to Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL).
The Wall Street giant is also trying to secure a national trust bank charter so that it can directly custody crypto assets.
As per Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley is also considering launching services to convert crypto holdings into ETFs without selling. Besides, it is also looking to launch tokenized equity trading in some time.
Bitcoin was trading at $81,905.36 at press time, Ether at $2,382.78, and Solana at $88.52. The total crypto market capitalization stood at $2.79 trillion at the time of writing.
Related: 64-year-old investment bank says Wall Street is losing crypto confidence
This story was originally published by TheStreet on May 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.