On July 28, Morgan Stanley launched two new spot crypto ETFs on NYSE Arca. The Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (MSSE) and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (MSOL) provide spot price exposure to underlying ethereum (ETH) and solana (SOL), alongside additional distributions from staking yields. Both funds come to market with low expense ratios of 14 basis points.
Key Takeaways
- Morgan Stanley launched the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (MSSE) and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (MSOL) on NYSE Arca, both featuring expense ratios of 14 basis points.
- The funds offer investors both spot price exposure to ETH and SOL, respectively, as well as additional income generated through staking yields. 95% of those network rewards are distributed back to shareholders.
- MSSE and MSOL leverage Morgan Stanley’s massive wealth advisor network and direct-to-consumer retail channel to drive steady, fee-based inflows rather than relying solely on market sentiment.
“Digital assets are becoming an increasingly important component of diversified investment portfolios,” said Amy Oldenburg, head of digital asset strategy at Morgan Stanley, in a press release. “As client interest in digital assets continues to grow, we’re focused on providing a range of digital asset solutions that allow investors to diversify their portfolios across traditional and decentralized asset classes while also adhering to Morgan Stanley’s standards for governance, infrastructure and risk management.”
Spot Exposure and Staking Yields
The trusts provide spot exposure to ETH or SOL by holding physical tokens in partnership with institutional crypto custodians. The performance of the underlying crypto holdings is measured by the CoinDesk Ether Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement Rate and the CoinDesk Solana Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement Rate. These benchmarks aggregate trade volume across major spot cryptocurrency exchanges at 4:00 p.m. ET to ensure share prices reflect true spot market values.
Beyond spot price tracking, both trusts generate income through staking yields. Staking allows the fund to commit a portion of underlying token reserves to validate transactions on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains, earning network-issued rewards. Roughly 95% of the staking yields are returned to shareholders through periodic distributions, with the remaining 5% covering institutional validator fees.
The funds return the same percentage of staking rewards to shareholders, but MSSE intends to stake between 50% to 80% of underlying ETH, capturing a base network reward rate around 1.7%. MSOL, however, plans to stake 100% of the Trust’s SOL due to Solana’s higher network reward rate of approximately 3.4%, according to Coinbase data.
Building on Bitcoin Success
Morgan Stanley’s expansion into ethereum and solana follows the success of the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT). While many spot Bitcoin ETFs have faced cooling demand and net outflows, MSBT has maintained strong inflows, adding $430.86 million in new assets since the fund’s inception in April. The sustained inflows are primarily due to the fund’s ultra-low expense ratio of 14 basis points and Morgan Stanley’s massive distribution network.
Morgan Stanley’s distribution efforts for the funds will likely benefit from the association with its advisory and self-directed platforms. The firm’s network includes 16,000 wealth advisors managing over $9 trillion in client assets and the brokerage platform E*TRADE.
Additionally, Morgan Stanley’s ownership of E*TRADE provides a massive direct-to-consumer retail distribution channel for MSBT. With the fund’s low-cost expense ratio undercutting competing products and the firm’s in-house platform marketing that features MSBT prominently across trading dashboards and educational content, Morgan Stanley has a strong advantage when it comes to attracting self-directed retail capital into MSBT.
With investors increasingly looking for yield alongside low-cost crypto exposure, Morgan Stanley is uniquely positioned to potentially capture market share within the ethereum and solana ETF markets.
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