Morgan Stanley has moved to claim the lowest fee position in two crypto ETF categories simultaneously, filing second-amended S-1 registration statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for spot Ethereum and Solana funds that each carry a 0.14% annual sponsor fee. The filings, submitted on June 18, 2026, set 0.14% sponsor fees on the proposed spot Ethereum and Solana ETFs — the lowest disclosed rate in each US market. Both funds will trade on NYSE Arca under tickers MSSE and MSOL.
The move extends a consistent pricing playbook Morgan Stanley has applied across its crypto product lineup and puts direct fee pressure on incumbents in both markets.
What the Filings Contain
The two products — the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (MSSE) and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (MSOL) — are structured as grantor trusts that hold spot ETH and SOL directly. The 0.14% sponsor fee is calculated on net asset value (NAV), accrues daily, and is paid monthly from trust assets. Investors see the fee reflected in the fund’s tracking performance rather than as a separate line-item charge.
These are the second round of amendments for both filings, which were originally submitted in January 2026. The June 18 filing marks the first time a specific fee was confirmed for either product; prior amendments in March and May added structural details like the proposed MSOL ticker and the staking component, but left the fee blank. Additional amendments typically indicate active dialogue between an issuer and the SEC and generally signal that a launch is approaching.
Staking Built Into Both Products
Beyond spot price exposure, both ETFs include staking provisions that make them yield-generating instruments rather than passive tracking vehicles. Morgan Stanley’s filings direct 95% of staking rewards back to fund shareholders, with the remaining 5% allocated to named infrastructure providers: Figment Inc., Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure LLC, and Coinbase Canada Inc. This structure effectively provides both ETFs with yield-enhanced spot exposure, which is particularly significant for Solana, where native on-chain staking yields are meaningfully higher than Ethereum’s.
The filing also noted that staked ether remains exposed to slashing — the network penalty for validator faults — a risk disclosure regulators have been closely scrutinizing as staking mechanics become more common in ETF structures.
Fee Comparison: Below Every Existing Rival
Grayscale’s Mini Ethereum Trust currently holds the lowest fee among Ethereum ETFs at 0.15%, while Franklin Templeton’s Solana ETF carries the lowest Solana fee at 0.19%. Morgan Stanley’s proposed 0.14% undercuts Grayscale by one basis point on Ethereum and Franklin Templeton by five basis points on Solana. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas described the pricing as the cheapest available for both asset classes in the US and globally.
One basis point may appear insignificant in isolation, but in the institutional ETF market it carries real weight. Fee-sensitive allocators operating under return mandates or cost caps systematically favour the cheapest equivalent product, and a global fee record creates a marketing anchor that draws assets regardless of the magnitude of the difference.
Existing US spot Ethereum ETF products from issuers including BlackRock and Fidelity have generally proposed fees in the 0.20–0.30% range, meaning Morgan Stanley’s MSSE would undercut the broader Ethereum ETF field by a wider margin still.
The Bitcoin Playbook, Applied Again
Morgan Stanley’s MSBT launched on April 8, 2026, as the first spot Bitcoin ETF from a major US bank, pulling in over $100 million in its first eight days entirely from self-directed clients. MSBT charges 0.14% annually, the lowest fee of any Bitcoin ETF on the market, undercutting BlackRock’s IBIT at 0.25%, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust at 0.15%, and Bitwise at 0.20%.
Within its first month, MSBT attracted $193.6 million in total inflows with zero outflows during that entire period. The early performance validated the pricing strategy: late market entry offset by aggressive fee positioning captured meaningful share from incumbents. Morgan Stanley is applying that same logic to Ethereum and Solana, entering each market after other issuers have established products but doing so at a fee level no existing fund matches.
Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust Price Performance (Source: Morgan Stanley)
Market Position and Approval Outlook
If approved, MSSE would become a new entrant in an established Ethereum ETF market, and MSOL would join the Solana ETF category. The second amendment status of both filings is a meaningful procedural signal. S-1 amendments at this stage typically reflect an issuer and the SEC working through final structural questions — in this case, primarily around staking mechanics, the 5% provider fee allocation, and custody arrangements.
Morgan Stanley oversees $9.3 trillion in total client assets across 16,000 financial advisors, a distribution network that no pure asset manager can replicate. If MSSE and MSOL receive approval and are made available to advisors on Morgan Stanley’s wealth management platform — something MSBT was not during its initial weeks — the potential inflow base expands substantially beyond what fee leadership alone would drive.
Broader Context: Fee Competition Intensifies
The MSSE and MSOL filings arrive as the crypto ETF market continues to expand rapidly. The fee war that began in the Bitcoin ETF category following the January 2024 spot BTC approvals is now playing out on a second front across Ethereum and Solana simultaneously. Issuers that entered the Ethereum ETF market in mid-2024 and the Solana ETF market more recently now face direct pressure to either cut fees or differentiate on other dimensions — staking yield, liquidity, or brand.
For investors, Morgan Stanley’s filings represent two products that combine the lowest available fee in each category with built-in staking yield, delivered through a regulated brokerage account wrapper. Approval timelines remain subject to SEC review, but the structural direction is clear: the cost of crypto ETF exposure is continuing to fall, and Morgan Stanley is leading that compression.
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Source: https://nftplazas.com/morgan-stanley-sets-0-14-percent-fees-for-ethereum-and-solana-etfs/
