Morgan Stanley undercuts rivals with 0.14% fee on Ethereum and Solana ETFs

Morgan Stanley sets a 0.14% fee for both funds

Morgan Stanley filed amended registration statements for its proposed spot Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 18 June 2026. Each fund would charge a 0.14% annual sponsor fee on its net asset value. The fee would accrue daily and be paid monthly. The Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust would trade under the ticker MSSE, and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust under MSOL.

According to The Block, the 0.14% rate would rank as the lowest sponsor fee in both the U.S. Ethereum and Solana ETF markets. The Block compared it with Grayscale's Mini Ethereum Trust at 0.15% and Franklin Templeton's Solana fund at 0.19%.

The filings return 95% of staking rewards to investors

Both trusts plan to stake part of their holdings to earn on-chain rewards. Staking service providers and custodians would receive 5% of those rewards, while the trusts would keep the remaining 95%. The amended filings name Figment, Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure, and Coinbase Canada as staking providers.

The proportion staked would vary by asset. Under normal conditions, the Ethereum trust intends to stake 50% to 80% of its ether, and the Solana trust may stake up to 100% of its SOL. The filings list BNY Mellon and Coinbase Custody as custodians, with BNY Mellon also acting as cash custodian and administrator. Each fund would publish its current staked percentage daily.

"The Delegated Sponsor will not receive or retain any portion of the staking rewards earned by the Trust.", 18 June 2026. — Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust, Form S-1/A prospectus

Ethereum staking faces a 63-day activation queue

The Ethereum filing flagged delays in deploying staked assets. It cited about 3.64 million ETH waiting in the validator activation queue as of 18 May 2026. At a rate of up to 56 validators per epoch, newly staked ether could wait roughly 63 days before earning rewards. The filing also noted that staked ether remains exposed to slashing, the network penalty for validator faults.

Ether and Solana trade lower as filings advance

Ether traded at about $1,699 at the time of publication, down 2.0% over the prior 24 hours (NewsFlash, 19 June 2026). Solana traded near $69 across the same period, down 2.4% on the day (NewsFlash, 19 June 2026). Both assets would join Bitcoin among the largest tokens with U.S. spot ETFs if the funds clear review.

The amendments mark Morgan Stanley's third crypto fund

The amendments follow Morgan Stanley's spot Bitcoin ETF, MSBT, which launched in April 2026 at the same 0.14% fee. According to The Block, MSBT had drawn about $300.7 million in cumulative net inflows as of 18 June 2026. The Ethereum and Solana applications, first filed in January 2026, are second amendments to the original registrations. Both remain under SEC review and carry no firm launch date.

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