Morgan Stanley’s 0.14% Crypto ETFs: Why the Fee War Is Just Getting Started (And Who’s Next)

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By: Oliver Hawthorne

The crypto ETF space is entering a fee war—and Morgan Stanley just fired the latest shot. Its new Ethereum and Solana ETFs undercut every rival with a 0.14% annual fee, but this move isn’t just about pricing. It’s a play to capture institutional money flowing into crypto, while navigating the SEC’s ever-shifting approval process.

Morgan Stanley filed second amended S-1 registrations with the SEC for its Ethereum (MSSE) and Solana (MSOL) ETFs, originally submitted in January. The 0.14% fee beats Grayscale’s Mini Ethereum Trust (0.15%) and Franklin Templeton’s Solana ETF (0.19%). Both funds will stake holdings: 5% of rewards go to providers (Figment, Galaxy, Coinbase Canada) and custodians, 95% to investors. ETH staking carries slashing risk, with 3.64 million ETH waiting activation (May18,2026)—a 63-day wait due to network limits. Solana staking has no daily limit, and custodians won’t hold staked SOL keys. The bank’s April Bitcoin ETF has $300.7M in inflows as of June18, and the SEC just approved BlackRock’s Bitcoin Premium Income ETF on June16.

This fee cut will force competitors to either match Morgan Stanley or find new ways to add value—like faster staking activation or lower slashing risk. Morgan Stanley’s next move? All eyes are on XRP, given its stake in existing XRP ETFs. The end-game here is clear: institutional crypto adoption will keep growing, but only for assets that clear SEC hurdles, and fee compression will become the standard for crypto ETFs.

Author bio: Oliver Hawthorne, Principal Correspondent at TechFrontier Review, covers institutional crypto adoption and regulatory trends globally.