Morgan Stanley Enters Crowded Staked Crypto Field with Ethereum and Solana ETPs

Morgan Stanley Investment Management has launched two new crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) on NYSE Arca, tracking Ethereum and Solana benchmarks. The Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (MSSE) and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (MSOL) both carry a 0.14% expense ratio and stake a portion of their holdings, passing full staking rewards through to shareholders.

The products are not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the same structure used by approved spot bitcoin and ether ETFs. Ally Wallace, MSIM's global head of ETFs, said that the addition of these ETPs reflects the natural evolution of their product suite, which seeks to provide simplified access to digital assets.

The launch follows the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), which debuted earlier this year as the first crypto ETP from a U.S. bank-affiliated asset manager and holds more than $381 million in assets. By comparison, Bitwise's staked Solana ETF already had around $418 million in assets by the time MSSE and MSOL started trading.

Morgan Stanley is undercutting its competitors on price while adding a brand name that carries weight with wealth managers. The company is not creating this category; it's entering an already crowded field dominated by staked-ETP funds, which have taken in more than $1.1 billion cumulatively.