Morgan Stanley targets low-cost ETH and SOL ETF market

Morgan Stanley is trying to set the price floor for the next wave of US crypto ETFs. Amended filings from June 18 show proposed annual fees of 0.14% for both its Ethereum and Solana trusts, below current listed rivals for similar products.

The proposed Ethereum trust, ticker MSSE, would trade on NYSE Arca if approved. It plans to track ether and pass through staking income from part of its holdings. Under normal conditions, 50% to 80% of the ETH would be staked, with the trust keeping 95% of rewards after payments to staking providers and custodians.

The Solana trust, MSOL, goes further. It would allow staking of up to 100% of its SOL holdings and would also keep 95% of rewards for the trust, while the sponsor takes none of the staking income. Based on a 6.28% gross staking rate cited in the filing, a fully staked SOL fund would retain about 5.97% before the 0.14% fee.

The filings are still preliminary. The SEC has not declared either registration statement effective, so neither fund can trade yet. Still, the fee choice puts pressure on competitors such as BlackRock's ETHA at 0.25%, Grayscale's mini Ether product at 0.15%, Bitwise's BSOL at 0.20%, and Franklin Templeton's Solana ETF at a 0.19% net expense ratio.