Week 29 (2026) · BTC Weekly

E*TRADE Opened Spot Bitcoin Trading to Nine Million Clients — With Custody Held Outside Morgan Stanley

Trades carry a 50-basis-point fee and route through a Zero Hash-held account in the client's own name — entirely outside Morgan Stanley's broker-dealer entities and without FDIC or SIPC coverage. Morgan Stanley first disclosed the Zero Hash arrangement in September 2025, completing the build-out in under ten months. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana are supported at launch. Transfer functionality to move crypto assets in or out of the Zero Hash account is expected in a later 2026 update; a portfolio integration displays crypto alongside equities in a single interface across E*TRADE's approximately nine million accounts.

The rollout places Bitcoin access inside one of the most widely used retail brokerage platforms in the United States, available to nine million clients in the same interface they use for equities — without requiring Morgan Stanley to custody digital assets on its own balance sheet or assume the regulatory obligations of a digital asset custodian.

(Decrypt, CryptoBriefing)

All Six GENIUS Act Agencies Missed the Stablecoin Rulemaking Deadline — Effective Date Moves to January 2027

The one-year statutory deadline for the OCC, FDIC, NCUA, Treasury, FinCEN, and OFAC to publish final GENIUS Act implementing rules passed on July 18 with no agency having crossed the finish line. The GENIUS Act — signed July 18, 2025 — created the first federal framework for U.S. payment stablecoins, mandating 100% reserve backing in U.S. dollars or short-term Treasuries, monthly public reserve disclosures, and Bank Secrecy Act compliance. The OCC's proposed implementing rule set a $5 million minimum capital floor. All six agencies remain at the proposed-rule stage. The statute contains no fallback provision — no automatic implementation, no interim guidance — so without final rules from all six, the law's 120-day accelerated effective date clock cannot start.

The missed deadline triggers the GENIUS Act's eighteen-month backstop, setting January 18, 2027 as the effective date — extending regulatory uncertainty for the U.S. stablecoin market, which reached $315 billion in 2026.

(ClearingPost, Yellow)