Morgan Stanley took another step toward spot crypto ETFs on Thursday. The bank filed second-amended S-1 registration statements with the US SEC for two funds, one tied to spot Ethereum and the other to spot Solana.
The key detail is the price. Morgan Stanley disclosed sponsor fees of 0.14% for both funds. That would sit at the low end in each category, undercutting the “cheapest” currently available options cited by SoSoValue data: Grayscale’s Mini Ethereum Trust at 0.15% for ether and Franklin Templeton’s SOEZ at 0.19% for Solana.
A new low fee, and a not-so-subtle bet on distribution
Repeated S-1 amendments typically signal active back-and-forth with regulators and forward movement toward launch. Unchained Crypto frames the timing this way, noting that Morgan Stanley filed the first versions in January and now submitted second amendments.
Morgan Stanley also has recent proof that aggressive fee-setting can work for it in crypto. Unchained Crypto points out that its spot bitcoin fund, MSBT, launched in April with the same 0.14% fee. It “under cut” established competitors such as BlackRock’s IBIT, and has pulled in about $300.7 million in cumulative net inflows as of June 18, according to the same Unchained Crypto reporting.
That matters for reading the ETH and SOL filings. Unchained Crypto argues that applying “rock-bottom pricing” to ether and Solana suggests Morgan Stanley intends to compete primarily on cost. The assumption is simple. The bank can lean on its wealth-management and advisory network to steer client assets toward its own ETF wrappers, rather than rivals.
Staking enters the footnotes, with named providers
Both amended filings also include staking. Unchained Crypto says each fund plans to stake a portion of holdings to generate additional rewards. That design choice is common across the ETF buildout right now, because issuers are no longer competing on fees alone.
The Solana filing, mirrored by the Ethereum counterpart, names specific staking service providers. Unchained Crypto lists Figment, Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure, and Coinbase Canada. It also discloses a 5% staking fee allocated to providers and custodians.
If approved, the funds are expected to trade under the ticker MSSE for Ethereum and MSOL for Solana. The use of specific provider names and a defined staking fee structure is the part that tends to draw regulatory scrutiny, since it affects custody, operational risk, and how rewards get handled.
What Morgan Stanley’s ETH and SOL plans extend
Unchained Crypto places the amendments in the broader arc of Morgan Stanley’s spot ETF strategy. The bank started its crypto ETF expansion with bitcoin, and these filings extend that push across two more of the largest US spot ETF candidates.
If the SEC clears them, the funds would put Morgan Stanley into spot ETF coverage for three major assets across US spot crypto ETFs, as Unchained Crypto notes. That would broaden the bank’s reach beyond a single product and deepen its position in a market that still lives or dies on regulatory approval and ongoing compliance.
For readers, the risk is still plain. ETF launches depend on SEC approval and can change during review. The presence of staking adds another layer of execution risk, and Unchained Crypto’s reporting shows Morgan Stanley is formalizing the operational side through named providers, a defined staking fee, and explicit fund tickers.