Morgan Stanley targets Q1 2027 to support tokenized equities

what happened

Morgan Stanley now sees the first quarter of 2027 as a more realistic deadline for supporting tokenized equities on its alternative trading system, or ATS. Amy Oldenburg, the bank’s head of digital asset strategy, told The Block that the team is building the required infrastructure and expects it to be ready by Q1. In March, the firm had pointed to the second half of 2026.

Oldenburg said demand from clients remains limited because the product is not yet available. She identified DTCC’s planned tokenization service launch at the end of this month and the GENIUS Act taking effect in January as important developments. Institutional participation also remains difficult because of questions about Federal Reserve permissibility and provisions of Clarity that remain insufficiently defined, she said.

Supporting tokenized equities through an ATS, which matches orders outside public exchanges such as Nasdaq, fits Morgan Stanley’s strategy of raising, allocating and managing capital onchain. The bank already provides equities, derivatives and swaps through the same model. It is also developing proprietary wallet infrastructure, has established a Digital Asset Lab and received conditional OCC approval earlier this year to create a digital trust for client custody or staking of digital assets.

Oldenburg named private shares, structured notes, custom products and access to private funds as near-term tokenization opportunities. She described the broader direction as the “securitization of everything” and said the tokenized real-world asset market would “without question” fall within the forecast range of $3 trillion to $10 trillion.

why it matters

The update points to a gradual expansion of institutional digital-asset infrastructure rather than an immediate launch. Timing will depend on product availability, client demand and regulatory clarity.

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