Morgan Stanley files for 2 crypto ETFs combining staking and custody

Morgan Stanley is entering the crypto ETF race with ethereum and solana funds that offer staking rewards alongside institutional-grade custody.

Morgan Stanley filed registration statements for ethereum and solana exchange-traded funds, combining direct token exposure with staking rewards and institutional custody as competition for crypto ETF market share intensifies.

The filings, which remain subject to SEC effectiveness review, combine three features rare in a single crypto ETF product: spot token exposure, staking yield generation and institutional custody through a qualified custodian, according to the registration statements.

The move places Morgan Stanley in direct competition with issuers including Bitwise, whose Solana staking ETF (BSOL) trades at $10.59, and Fidelity's Solana fund (FSOL) at $9.18. XRP spot ETFs have attracted $1.49 billion in inflows since launch, while Solana ETFs have pulled in $1.14 billion, according to data from the filings.

The addition of staking rewards — which generate yield from network validation — could give Morgan Stanley's funds a competitive edge in a market where fee compression is already squeezing margins. The registration statements are pending SEC effectiveness, with no timeline disclosed for approval.

Staking Rewards as a Differentiator

The staking component is particularly significant for solana, which processes about 300 million transactions daily and supports more than $5 billion in DeFi deposits, according to DefiLlama. Ethereum's staking yield currently hovers around 3.2 percent, while solana's staking rate is approximately 6.8 percent, making the yield enhancement more meaningful for SOL-focused products.

The competitive landscape is already crowded. XRP ETFs have drawn $1.49 billion in inflows since launching, while Solana ETFs have collected $1.14 billion. Bitcoin ETFs, by contrast, lost $527 million in outflows during the same week, and Ethereum ETFs have bled for eight consecutive weeks, data from the filings show.

Institutional Trust vs. On-Chain Activity

The divergence between XRP and Solana ETF flows illustrates a broader market dynamic. XRP's institutional trust — backed by Ripple's 75 regulatory licenses and partnerships with Santander, SBI and PNC — has kept it ahead despite relatively low on-chain activity. The XRP Ledger records between 15,000 and 40,000 daily active addresses, compared with solana's 3.3 million.

Solana, however, is closing the institutional gap. Morgan Stanley has also filed for its own Solana fund at the lowest fee in the market. The upcoming Alpenglow upgrade, which cuts settlement time from about 12 seconds to under a fifth of a second, could further strengthen the network's appeal to institutional investors.

For ethereum, the challenge is different. Despite dominating DeFi with more than $50 billion in total value locked, Ethereum ETFs have seen persistent outflows as investors rotate toward higher-yielding alternatives. Morgan Stanley's inclusion of staking rewards could help reverse that trend by offering a yield component that spot-only ETFs cannot match.

The registration statements are pending SEC effectiveness. No timeline for approval has been disclosed.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.