For a little than eight years, Shah was Morgan Stanley’s senior currency analyst handling G10 currencies, and she also contributed to the bank’s cryptocurrency-related research activities. Shah will allegedly concentrate on evaluating the effect of cryptos on stocks and fixed-income assets such as government and corporate bonds in his new position.
Morgan Stanley officials announced the announcement in a letter to employees, emphasizing that the establishment of a committed cryptocurrency research group is “in acknowledgment of the increasing importance of cryptos and other digital assets in international markets.”
Morgan Stanley has been aggressively investing in cryptoassets over the last year, gradually increasing its straight forward exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) via multiple investment funds managed by Grayscale Investments. Morgan Stanley allegedly launched a Bitcoin investing platform for wealthy customers in March.
The announcement comes as the conventional financial sector continues to diversify into cryptocurrencies, despite the cryptocurrency market’s meteoric rise. The entire market price of all cryptocurrencies has increased by over $1 trillion in the last year, rising from approximately $350 billion in 2020 to $2.1 trillion while writing this article.
Banks in the United States have been scrambling to create crypto-linked divisions in recent months, with Bank of America establishing a cryptocurrency study section in July. State Street, the second-oldest actively functioning bank in the United States, earlier announced the establishment of a specialized digital funding section. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Group, both Wall Street behemoths, launched cryptocurrency trading facilities in 2021.