Morgan Stanley executives say the era of traditional 9-to-5 banking is drawing to a close as financial markets move toward round-the-clock trading and real-time settlement, with tokenization accelerating a shift that cryptocurrencies pioneered.

Speaking during a panel discussion on digital assets, Betsy Graseck, Morgan Stanley's global head of banks and diversified finance research, argued that the move toward tokenized assets extends far beyond cryptocurrencies. The focus, she said, is on rebuilding financial infrastructure for an always-on economy.

"I do phrase it as, look, this is the end of banker hours," Graseck said. "Your batch processing mentality is going to be a thing of the past."

Her comments reflect a broader trend across financial markets. Banks, exchanges, and custodians are investing in technology that allows assets to move 24 hours a day, seven days a week. While cryptocurrencies demonstrated that round-the-clock markets were possible, executives said the same infrastructure is increasingly being applied to traditional assets — a shift that follows the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in 2024, which opened regulated digital asset exposure to a wider pool of institutional and retail investors.

Morgan Stanley's Digital Asset Expansion

Morgan Stanley has steadily broadened its digital asset offerings over the past year. The firm recently began offering spot trading in bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and solana (SOL) through its E*TRADE platform, while expanding access to cryptocurrency ETFs for wealth management clients.

On the asset management side, Morgan Stanley launched its first spot bitcoin ETF earlier this year, followed this week by spot ether and solana ETFs — reflecting the firm's push to meet growing investor demand for digital asset investment products. The rapid rollout places Morgan Stanley among the largest U.S. wealth managers building direct crypto trading and custody capabilities for clients.

Tokenization as Infrastructure

Graseck said investor demand is no longer centered solely on bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Institutions are increasingly looking at tokenization — the issuance of traditional financial instruments such as bonds, equities, and fund shares on blockchain-based networks — because it can improve cash mobility, increase collateral efficiency, and create new investment opportunities.

"If you do not modernize your rails to enable yourself to participate as flows shift to digital asset rails, you're not positioning yourself for growth," she said. Firms that ignore the trend risk falling behind as more financial activity migrates onto blockchain-based infrastructure, she added.

Mainstream Impact Through Tokenized Products

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management investment strategist Denny Galindo said tokenized money market funds and stocks have expanded rapidly this year and predicted they will introduce many investors to blockchain technology before they ever purchase a cryptocurrency directly. Tokenized money market funds, which represent shares of traditional cash-management vehicles on a blockchain and allow near-instantaneous transfers and redemption, have drawn participation from major asset managers including BlackRock and Franklin Templeton.

"I think we're going to see a lot of mainstream impact from something tokenized that people can buy that they used to have a hard time getting access to," Galindo said. "I think that'll probably be the first way crypto hits the people that aren't just in it all the time and thinking about it all the time. It's going to be some kind of tokenized product."

Galindo also noted that wealth management clients are becoming more comfortable with digital assets as investment options expand beyond bitcoin.

"A lot of people just stopped at bitcoin and said, 'I've got that covered. I don't want to get it more complicated,'" he said. As more exchange-traded funds and tokenized products become available, he expects investors to spend more time evaluating how digital assets fit within broader portfolios.

Next Stage: Multi-Currency Digital Asset ETFs

Ali Wallace, Morgan Stanley Investment Management's global head of capital markets and ETF strategy, said product development is already evolving in response to investor demand. She pointed to growing interest in multi-currency digital asset ETFs as the next stage of innovation.

"There really is an interest for multi-currency, multi-product" ETFs, Wallace said, describing them as the next evolution of digital asset investment products.

A Multi-Year Transition

Graseck expects the transition to take years rather than months, but she believes the direction is unmistakable.

"There are investors who are very interested in being able to manage their funds on a 24/7 basis," she said. "The entirety of your investor base is not your domestic market."