Morgan Stanley filed amended S-1 statements with the SEC on Thursday for two new crypto ETFs: one for Ethereum and one for Solana. Both funds plan to charge 0.14% per year. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reacted the same day, calling the fees "the cheapest in the US and the world" among spot crypto ETFs. It is the bank's third entry into the crypto ETF market, following a Bitcoin ETF launched in April.
Why Does 0.14% Break a Record?
The lowest-fee spot Ethereum ETF in the US right now is the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF at 0.15% per year. Among spot Solana ETFs, the cheapest is the Franklin Solana ETF (SOEZ) at 0.19%. Morgan Stanley plans to beat both with one move, setting the same 0.14% rate for each of its new products.
For a retail investor, a 0.01% difference sounds trivial. But ETF competition does not run on retail math. A pension fund with $5 billion under management, overpaying by 0.05% a year, loses $2.5 million in extra fees annually. That is why tenths of a percent carry real weight when institutional investors pick a fund.
Fee competition in crypto ETFs has also shifted the standard. A year ago, 0.25-0.30% was the typical rate for new products. Now Morgan Stanley is coming in at 0.14%, effectively setting a new floor for all competitors.
How the Low-Fee Strategy Already Proved Itself
There is a working example. In April 2026, Morgan Stanley launched a Bitcoin ETF at the same 0.14% fee. The first trading day attracted $30.6 million in inflows. Most rivals (Invesco, Franklin Templeton, CoinShares) had launched their Bitcoin ETFs back in January 2024. Within two months, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF gathered $331 million in total inflows and surpassed all three competitors. The bank came in last but at the lowest price, and it won.
The same playbook now moves to Ethereum and Solana. The spot Ethereum ETF market has been running since July 2024 and the spot Solana ETF market since early 2025. Both already have established players. Morgan Stanley is betting that a lower fee will work again.
How Does Staking Inside an ETF Work?
These products differ from most of their predecessors: they include staking. The fund will not simply hold ETH or SOL in custody. It will actively stake them on their respective blockchains to generate additional yield. That yield, minus a 5% fund fee on staking rewards, flows back to shareholders.
Three partners will handle staking services for both ETFs:
- Figment, an institutional staking provider for PoS networks;
- Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure, the infrastructure arm of Galaxy Digital;
- Coinbase Canada, which will handle custodial services for both funds.
The Ethereum fund is called the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust and will trade under the ticker MSSE. The Solana fund is the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust, trading as MSOL. If approved, MSSE becomes the 11th spot Ethereum ETF in the US. MSOL will be the seventh spot Solana ETF.
What Does the Second Amendment Signal About SEC Timing?
Morgan Stanley first filed for these two ETFs in January 2026. Thursday's update is the second amendment. On the ETF market, this sequence of steps sends a clear message: the regulator is actively engaging with the issuer and pushing for final clarifications before approval. A first amendment typically means the SEC has raised questions. A second means those questions have been addressed and the product is nearing the finish line.
Most spot crypto ETFs approved in 2024-2025 went from second amendment to final approval within four to eight weeks. If that pattern holds, MSSE and MSOL could be trading before the end of summer. The SEC has made no official announcement, but ETF market analysts read Morgan Stanley's move as a strong signal of imminent approval.
What Will Morgan Stanley's Entry Change for ETH and SOL?
Morgan Stanley manages more than $1 trillion in client assets and has a direct brokerage network for millions of Americans. Two new ETFs from this player open the door for a segment still largely absent from crypto: pension portfolios, conservative asset managers, and wealth management clients with regulated investment mandates who cannot buy an asset directly on a crypto exchange.
The difference between this capital and retail money is clear. Retail traders react to volatility and often exit at the first price drop. Institutional positions are built over years and do not typically unwind at short-term price swings. Steady inflows of that type of capital into Ethereum and Solana would support a more stable investor base and reduce sharp price moves over a horizon of months.
The US crypto ETF market keeps expanding. Each new approval makes it less niche and more like a standard financial market. If the SEC approves MSSE and MSOL this summer, that is one more step in the same direction.
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