Morgan Stanley Just Launched Ethereum and Solana ETPs. This Is Becoming Serious.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management has launched two new exchange-traded products: the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (NYSE Arca: MSSE) and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (NYSE Arca: MSOL). Both track their respective assets and mark the firm's second major crypto expansion this year. Wall Street is competing hard for this market now.

The fees are aggressive. Both funds charge 0.14%—lower than Grayscale's Mini Ethereum Trust at 0.15% and Franklin Templeton's Solana ETF at 0.19%. They also pass staking rewards to investors, which matters. MSSE will stake between 50% to 80% of its ETH holdings, capturing a base network reward around 1.7%. MSOL stakes 100% of its SOL, benefiting from Solana's higher network reward rate of approximately 3.4%.

The timing is interesting because Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin Trust is already working. As of July 16, 2026, it holds more than $381 million in assets under management. That's the first cryptocurrency ETP from a U.S. bank-affiliated asset manager. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas called the new Ethereum and Solana launches the biggest in their categories since the initial spot crypto ETFs landed.

This is part of a bigger pattern. Since spot bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024, large asset managers have been methodically moving into other digital assets. Ethereum products are now established. Solana is the next battlefield. And Morgan Stanley seems determined to win.

The infrastructure here is formidable. Morgan Stanley's wealth management division has roughly 16,000 financial advisors overseeing more than $9 trillion in client assets. The firm also owns E*TRADE, which gives it direct access to millions of self-directed investors. When you control distribution like that, launching products becomes easier. Earlier this month, Morgan Stanley brought spot crypto trading to a broader group of E*TRADE users, deepening integration into its traditional brokerage platform.

The strategy extends beyond simple spot exposure. In April, Morgan Stanley executives revealed they were exploring tokenized money market funds and digital asset tax-management strategies through subsidiary Parametric. They're thinking about blockchain-based products more broadly. This isn't a one-off move. This is institutional repositioning.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management's full suite now includes more than $14 billion in assets under management across 22 products. That includes five Calvert ETFs, three Parametric ETFs, 11 Eaton Vance fixed income ETFs, and three digital asset ETPs. The apparatus keeps growing.

What's genuinely significant here is the competitiveness on fees and staking rewards. Institutional players don't compete on 1 basis point margins because the margin is trivial. They compete because they're fighting for market share in something they believe will matter. The fact that Morgan Stanley is undercutting Grayscale and Franklin Templeton suggests they see Ethereum and Solana as long-term institutional assets, not a trading fad.

Solana's surge in popularity among both retail and institutional investors has made it a target. Morgan Stanley is betting on that momentum holding.

Source & further reading:

• What Is a Digital Commodity? — The Block
• Company behind AI trade that caused $60 million crypto liquidations to cover all losses — CoinDesk
• Citadel bets on a Fed rate hike Wednesday as bitcoin analysts call a hold. Someone will be wrong. — CoinDesk
• Bitcoin rises toward $64,000 as Korea's record chip crash leaves crypto untouched — CoinDesk
• Coinbase wants to be Canada’s ‘everything exchange,’ but says clearer rules are needed first — CoinDesk