Morgan Stanley Launches Ether and Solana Staking ETPs on NYSE Arca

New listings and structure

The new products are the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust, trading under the ticker MSSE, and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust, trading under MSOL. Both carry a 0.14% expense ratio. Morgan Stanley said each trust intends to stake part of its crypto holdings and that all staking rewards earned will be passed on to shareholders. According to the firm's announcement, it will not retain any portion of those rewards.

MSSE tracks the CoinDesk Ether Benchmark 4 p.m. New York settlement rate, while MSOL tracks the CoinDesk Solana Benchmark 4 p.m. New York settlement rate. Morgan Stanley Investment Management serves as delegated sponsor rather than direct custodian, with assets held through third-party custodial agreements in segregated accounts. Like the spot bitcoin and ether ETFs approved in 2024, neither trust is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Broader crypto ETP push

The launch extends Morgan Stanley's crypto ETP business beyond bitcoin. Earlier this year, the firm introduced the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, or MSBT, described in the source article as the first crypto ETP from a U.S. bank-affiliated asset manager. As of July 16, that fund held more than $381 million in assets.

Morgan Stanley executives presented the new funds as part of a broader ETF buildout rather than a tactical response to market volatility. Ally Wallace, the firm's global head of ETFs, said its ETF and ETP platform has grown to more than $14 billion in assets under management since its first ETF launches in 2023. Amy Oldenburg, head of digital asset strategy, said digital assets are becoming a more important part of diversified portfolios.

Competition centers on fees

Morgan Stanley is entering an increasingly crowded market for staked crypto products after other issuers had already established a foothold. By the time MSSE and MSOL launched, Bitwise's staked Solana ETF, BSOL, already held roughly $418 million in assets and had staked its full Solana balance for a 7.1% reward rate, using its own validator infrastructure. Grayscale's Solana Trust ETF, GSOL, also targets full staking, but at a higher cost, with a 0.35% base fee plus a 23% share of staking rewards. REX-Osprey's SSK, described as the first U.S. fund to combine spot Solana exposure with staking, had around $90 million in assets.

Against that backdrop, Morgan Stanley's main point of differentiation appears to be price. The source article argues that fee levels matter more when the underlying assets have fallen sharply. It noted Ether was trading near $1,900 after falling more than two-thirds from its August 2025 high near $4,950, while Solana was around $74, down about 74% from its January 2025 peak. In that environment, lower product fees can have a more visible effect on net staking income.

Flows continue despite weak prices

The article also pointed to continued investor demand for these wrappers despite declining token prices. Solana spot ETFs have reportedly attracted more than $1.1 billion in cumulative inflows, with net inflows continuing into late July even as the token remained near multi-quarter lows. That pattern was presented as a sign that some buyers may be using regulated products to build longer-term exposure rather than trading short-term momentum.

A shifting regulatory backdrop may also be helping issuers expand more quickly. The SEC is described as working through a broader "Regulation Crypto" agenda that includes a proposed generic listing standard for crypto ETFs. Under that approach, any asset with six months of regulated futures trading could qualify automatically, rather than requiring a separate rule filing for each asset.

Whether Morgan Stanley's combination of lower fees and established distribution can overcome the earlier lead of rivals such as Bitwise and REX-Osprey remains unresolved. The source article framed the next few months of asset growth data as the real test of whether brand strength and pricing can outweigh incumbents' head start in staking infrastructure.