Morgan Stanley has implemented a cryptocurrency trading pilot on its E*Trade platform, charging lower base retail fees than some of the largest U.S. cryptocurrency and brokerage platforms.
The Wall Street bank charges customers 50 basis points on the dollar value of each cryptocurrency transaction, undercutting the standard retail prices of Coinbase, Robinhood and Charles Schwab, According to in Bloomberg’s Tuesday report.
The offer is currently in a pilot phase, and according to Bloomberg, 8.6 million E*Trade customers will have access later this year.
The pilot illustrates how major Wall Street firms are entering cryptocurrency trading, competing with exchanges and fintech platforms for retail revenue. Still, Kraken Pro, Binance USA and some Advanced coinbase tiers offer lower fees for cryptocurrency traders.
A Morgan Stanley spokesperson confirmed to Cointelegraph that the details and fee structure described in the Bloomberg report are true.
The bank’s latest cryptocurrency move comes about a month after Morgan Stanley launched its spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT), which saw inflows of $30.6 million on its first day of trading on NYSE Arca.
Related: Crypto VC funding dropped to $659 million in April, the lowest level in two years
Wall Street giants start trading in cryptocurrencies
Morgan Stanley isn’t the only major financial institution expanding its crypto products to retail or institutional clients.
Charles Schwab, one of the largest US brokerage firms, announced the launch of spot trading of Bitcoin and Ether for retail clients less than a month ago, Cointelegraph reported on April 16. The offer was launched with a transaction fee of 75 basis points.
In April, Goldman Sachs also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, a proposed fund that would generate income by selling call options on Bitcoin exchange-traded products, rather than investing directly in Bitcoin.
Wall Street’s previous crypto infrastructure efforts included custody of BNY Mellon’s digital assets platformwhich launched in the United States in October 2022 and enabled select customers to store and transfer Bitcoin and Ether.
