TL;DR
- Morgan Stanley has invested in Zerohash’s $104 million Series D-2 funding round, boosting the startup to unicorn status at a $1 billion valuation.
- Zerohash will support Morgan Stanley’s plan to give E-trade users direct access to trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana in the coming months.
- This step signals a stronger commitment by one of Wall Street’s biggest banks to integrate digital assets into mainstream financial services.
Morgan Stanley is deepening its presence in the digital asset economy with a new investment in Zerohash, a crypto infrastructure firm that has just closed a $104 million Series D-2 round. The bank not only joined as a backer but also announced plans to work with Zerohash to enable E-trade customers to buy and sell leading tokens such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
The round was led by Interactive Brokers and included participation from SoFi, Apollo-managed funds, Jump Crypto, and other notable investors. The new funding lifts Zerohash to a $1 billion valuation, underscoring the growing appetite for platforms that build reliable rails between traditional finance and blockchain-based markets.
Morgan Stanley Accelerates Digital Strategy
By allowing E-trade clients to access major cryptocurrencies, Morgan Stanley is positioning itself as a leader among U.S. banks seeking to integrate crypto into retail offerings. Jed Finn, the firm’s head of wealth management, emphasized that blockchain infrastructure has already proven its value and should be available alongside traditional asset classes.
This move comes as rivals like Robinhood have already captured large volumes of retail crypto activity. However, Morgan Stanley’s established client base and partnership with Zerohash could provide a more regulated, institutionally trusted alternative. Analysts note that this effort reflects a clear signal from the bank that it views digital assets not as an experiment but as a core component of future financial markets.
Institutional Backing For Crypto Infrastructure
Zerohash’s API-driven model allows firms to integrate crypto, stablecoins, and tokenized assets into their platforms seamlessly. This makes it an attractive partner for financial institutions that want to scale quickly without building infrastructure from scratch. Adam Berg, Zerohash’s CFO, highlighted that demand is accelerating, with executives across banking spending significant time on blockchain adoption strategies.
Morgan Stanley’s support of Zerohash is not its first venture into crypto innovation. In 2021, it co-led a $48 million round in Securitize, a company focused on tokenizing real-world assets (RWA). With regulatory barriers easing in the United States, the momentum behind such partnerships suggests that mainstream adoption of crypto trading and tokenization is set to grow at a faster pace.
