Morgan Stanley's Amy Oldenburg said putting Bitcoin on the balance sheet of a major bank is "not totally out of the question," citing regulatory progress but cautioning that capital rules and global alignment remain critical.
Speaking at the Bitcoin 2026 conference, Oldenburg was asked what would it take for a regulated bank like Morgan Stanley to hold Bitcoin as a treasury asset. Her response frames the idea as procedurally possible for the first time, but still distant.
The core challenge isn't just one rule. While the rollback of SAB 121 removed a major hurdle, Oldenburg pointed to Fed guidance and Basel Committee standards. Global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) must satisfy multiple regulators and capital frameworks simultaneously.
The Basel Committee's cryptoasset standard imposes a 1,250% risk-weight on unbacked crypto like Bitcoin, making direct bank holdings uneconomic. The Committee expedited a review in February 2026, with an update expected later this year.
Meanwhile, U.S. banking agencies have moved away from prior-approval crypto frameworks and clarified that tokenized securities get standard capital treatment. However, Bitcoin isn't a tokenized security, so that clarity doesn't directly apply.
At press time, BTC traded at $1.3716.