In brief
- Morgan Stanley has set up a Digital Asset Lab to test stablecoins, tokenized deposits, tokenized money-market funds and DeFi vaults.
- The lab is kept apart from the bank’s core systems, inside innovation spaces in New York, Glasgow and Bangalore.
- There is no client launch date; the details come from a Bloomberg interview, not a company announcement.
Morgan Stanley has opened a Digital Asset Lab where staff can test stablecoins, tokenization and decentralized finance without touching the bank’s live systems. The details come from an interview with two of its executives published by Bloomberg on Sept. 29. We found no press release from the bank.
What the lab tests
Megan Brewer, head of firmwide market innovation and labs, told Bloomberg the work covers tokenized deposits, central bank digital currencies, money-market funds and DeFi vaults, crypto.news reports. One question is how software could run investment strategies around the clock.
The bank described the lab as “a secure, compliant and segregated environment” for testing these areas, Bitcoin Magazine reports. It is part of Morgan Stanley’s existing innovation labs in New York, Glasgow and Bangalore, which sit off the bank’s core systems, according to Disruption Banking.
The split between private stablecoins and bank-issued tokenized deposits matters here. A tokenized deposit is a bank deposit recorded on a blockchain and stays a claim on the bank. A stablecoin is issued by a separate company and backed by its own reserves. Large banks are testing both to see which suits payments and settlement.
Where it fits
The lab is not a product launch. Nothing tested there reaches clients without passing the bank’s usual credit, custody and conduct checks, and no launch date has been given.
Morgan Stanley already runs crypto products. It launched ether and Solana exchange-traded products in July after its bitcoin trust, according to Disruption Banking, and has plans for crypto trading on E*TRADE. It also runs a fund that lets stablecoin issuers hold reserves in government money-market assets. The lab adds a research step behind those products as stablecoins take a larger share of payments.
Next to watch: whether Morgan Stanley confirms the lab in its own filings or announcements, and which of the tested products it brings to clients first.
