Aug 3, 2026
The United States Treasury and Japanese government coordinated currency market intervention to halt the yen's slide to its lowest level against the dollar in 40 years, marking Washington's first yen-buying intervention since 2011. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York executed the operation through Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Institutional crypto and FX trading platform LMAX Group is exploring strategic alternatives including a potential sale, IPO, or SPAC merger, with Morgan Stanley and KBW serving as advisors. The London-based firm, which reported $8.2 trillion in trading volume, could seek a valuation of up to $5 billion, with Nasdaq reportedly the preferred listing venue.
HM Treasury announced a wholesale digital markets taskforce including 54 firms backed by the City of London Corporation. BlackRock, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Ripple are among participants. The UK government estimates tokenized financial markets could add £33 billion ($44 billion) to annual economic output by 2035.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management announced a partnership with Galaxy Digital allowing eligible high-net-worth clients to lend Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana as collateral in exchange for shares of spot crypto exchange-traded products.
Morgan Stanley began offering cryptocurrency trading through its E*TRADE platform at 0.5% transaction fees, undercutting competitors like Coinbase, Robinhood, and Schwab in a move that intensifies pricing competition among traditional finance firms entering crypto.
Morgan Stanley's Amy Oldenburg stated that while the bank launched the first bank-issued Bitcoin ETP, advisors, regulators and balance sheets still have significant progress to make before banks hold Bitcoin directly.
Morgan Stanley debuted a government money market fund specifically designed for stablecoin issuers to hold reserves, requiring a minimum $10 million investment. The fund is aligned with GENIUS Act requirements and positions the Wall Street giant as a reserve manager for the stablecoin industry.
Morgan Stanley's MSBT Bitcoin fund has overtaken WisdomTree's spot Bitcoin ETF in assets after only six trading days, with inflows topping $100 million. The fund is now within striking distance of overtaking three other January 2024 Bitcoin ETF launches.
Secondary market activity shows Anthropic shares as the hottest trade with strong demand, while OpenAI shares have become nearly impossible to sell on secondary markets despite the company's recent $122 billion funding round. Rainmaker Securities reports unprecedented activity in private AI company shares.
SpaceX has confidentially filed for an IPO that could raise $75 billion and value the company at $1.75 trillion, which would make Elon Musk the first trillionaire. The filing comes amid growing conflicts of interest with Trump administration, NASA, and defense contracts.
Morgan Stanley priced its proposed spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) at 14 basis points, undercutting all existing competitors and potentially launching in early April. Bloomberg analysts called it a 'big move' that could drive significant inflows given the bank's 16,000 financial advisors managing $6.2 trillion in client assets.