Morgan Stanley signaling broad crypto plans with a new job posting

According to a new LinkedIn job posting, financial giant Morgan Stanley is looking for a product development manager with a primary focus on building a wide range of new crypto products. The new executive will lead the team responsible for more than $900 billion in assets under management.

The Block reported that the new position is to join the Investment Solutions Product Development team, which offers a wide range of services, with more than $900 billion in assets under management across mutual funds, money market funds, 529 College Savings Plans, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

In particular, the product manager hire would have a primary focus on creating packaged products and indexes.

The new position indicates that Morgan Stanley is taking crypto more seriously and looking to bulk up its product offering after launching a private passive fund last March. The firm told its legion of financial advisors that it could offer crypto exposure via products operated by Galaxy Digital and NYDIG, as The Block previously reported.

This move suggests Morgan Stanley is keen to give those FAs more products to pick from, according to an executive at asset management firm Bitwise. The new index-based investment product or exchange-traded product (ETP) would join a crowded field that covers firms like Fidelity, Grayscale, Invesco-Galaxy, and many others.

Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise, noted the significant context of the but warned observers to curb their potential enthusiasm.

“Hiring a mid-level person to work on something like this doesn’t guarantee a product comes to market,” he said.

Also, the job ad indicates that the firm’s crypto product solutions could be levered by over 200 asset management firms.

Furthermore, some of the responsibilities of the role will include identifying opportunities to promote financial advisor product usage “including presenting at home-office sponsored, branch and industry events,” “source product development opportunities across all investment strategies,” and “partner with more than 200 asset management firms to identify strategies that will enhance the overall quality of the platform.”