Morgan Stanley delays tokenized equities support to Q1 2027

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Morgan Stanley tokenized equities delay

Highlights

Morgan Stanley delayed tokenized equities support on its ATS to Q1 2027, pushing back from the previous second half of 2026 estimate.
Institutional participation remains limited due to unresolved regulatory questions, but DTCC's upcoming tokenization service and the GENIUS Act's January launch may accelerate adoption.
Morgan Stanley forecasts the tokenized real-world asset market to reach between $3 trillion and $10 trillion by 2030, identifying private shares and structured notes as near-term opportunities.

Infrastructure build and revised timeline

As first reported by The Block, Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley's head of digital asset strategy, says the bank now sees Q1 2027 as a more realistic target for enabling tokenized equities on its ATS, later than the second half of 2026 timeline she discussed in March.

Oldenburg says the firm is actively building the infrastructure needed to support the activity, but broader client demand remains limited because the underlying product set is still emerging. She says institutional participation is also constrained by unresolved regulatory and policy questions, including Federal Reserve permissibility and remaining uncertainties after Clarity did not advance.

She points to DTCC's planned tokenization service launch at the end of this month and the GENIUS Act taking effect in January as important developments that could help move the market forward. Morgan Stanley views tokenized equities on its ATS, which matches orders away from public exchanges such as Nasdaq, as part of a broader strategy to raise, allocate and manage capital onchain.

Tokenization strategy and market outlook

Morgan Stanley already offers clients direct equities, derivatives and swaps through the same operating model, and Oldenburg says tokenization is a natural extension of that framework. The bank is also developing proprietary wallet infrastructure designed to stay abstracted from users while allowing clients to hold tokenized assets and related products.

The firm has also set up a Digital Asset Lab to test blockchain and crypto-native technologies needed to support future offerings in a controlled environment before any production rollout. Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley also received conditional approval from the OCC to establish a digital trust for custody or staking of digital assets on behalf of clients.

Oldenburg identifies private shares, structured notes, custom products and private fund access as near-term tokenization opportunities, particularly where blockchain can reduce paperwork and operational burdens. She says that as more assets move onchain, collateral use cases will expand as well, and she expects the tokenized real-world asset market to reach between $3 trillion and $10 trillion by 2030.

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