The American bank Morgan Stanley welcomes the possibility of establishing a corporate bitcoin (BTC) treasury. Amy Oldenburg, director of digital assets at the institution, expressed this openness during her participation at the Bitcoin 2026 conference, held from April 27 to 29, 2026.
The possibility of the bank keeping the digital currency on its balance sheets It depends directly on the evolution of the legal environment in the United States. “If we continue to see the regulatory progress of the last 16 months, it is not something that can be completely ruled out,” the executive assured yesterday, April 29.
However, Oldenburg made it clear that It is not a simple process for an entity of its size.. He explained that “it is not only about reversing” the SAB 121 standard—an accounting rule that makes it difficult for banks to custody cryptoassets—but that it also depends on the guidelines of the United States Federal Reserve (FED) and Basel. These norms are international standards that regulate the minimum capital that banks must reserve according to the risk of their assets.
For Morgan Stanley, Complying with these rules is crucial because it is classified as a G-SIB bankthat is, of global systemic importance, whose operation is vital for global financial stability. “When you are a large bank, you don’t report to a single agency, you have many supervisory groups,” Oldenburg said to explain the complexity of aligning all regulators.
Regarding bitcoin’s role in capital allocation, the director commented that the industry is at a “very early stage.” He highlighted that there is still very little allocation in portfolios and that the bitcoin approach to corporate treasuries is just beginning.
Oldenburg added that “there is work to be done for a wide range of companies to consider having even 1% exposure on their balance sheet.” To achieve this, he considers it essential that companies first understand what effect that asset would have on their financial statements.
Adoption also involves understanding the asset. “There is still a lot more research needed on why bitcoin is different from many other cryptocurrencies,” he said, attributing negative comments about BTC to a lack of education and pedagogy.
The Morgan Stanley executive assured that the entity has a “comprehensive roadmap” with bitcoin. After launching its own spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on April 8, as reported by CriptoNoticias, the bank is also exploring allowing the direct purchase of bitcoin from its platform in the future.