ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said that the planned 0.14% management fees on two upcoming cryptocurrency ETFs from Morgan Stanley would make them the least expensive products of their kind in both the United States and the global market.
Morgan Stanley has revised its filings for its Ether and Solana exchange-traded funds, disclosing plans to introduce fee structures that would rank as the lowest among competing offerings in the market.
Amended Form S-1 filings were submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission by the company on Thursday, revealing plans to price its offerings below existing competitors by applying a management fee of 0.14% to each of the proposed ETFs.
According to Farside Investors, the lowest-cost spot Ether ETF currently available in the United States is the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF, which carries a fee of 0.15%. Among spot Solana ETFs, the lowest expense ratio is charged by Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Solana ETF at 0.19%.
The filings for the ETFs have now been revised by Morgan Stanley for a second time since the initial applications were submitted in January. Such amendments are typically viewed as an indication that approval for trading may be close to being granted by the SEC, which would make the products the 11th spot Ether ETF and the seventh spot Solana ETF to debut in the United States.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on X on Friday that the proposed fees would rank these products as “the cheapest in the US and the world.”
Morgan Stanley Uses Low Fees and Staking to Challenge Crypto ETF Leaders
Lower fees have been used as a key strategy by Morgan Stanley as it seeks to establish a presence in the spot crypto ETF sector, a market that has largely been dominated by issuers such as BlackRock and Fidelity. Its Bitcoin ETF, launched in April, was introduced with a 0.14% fee, placing it below the 0.15% charge applied to Grayscale’s mini Bitcoin ETF.
That pricing structure likely contributed to a solid debut, with first-day inflows of $30.6 million being recorded by Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin fund. Since then, cumulative inflows of $331 million have been generated, putting the ETF ahead of products from Invesco, Franklin Templeton, and CoinShares, all of which were introduced in January 2024.
The latest filings from Morgan Stanley also indicate that staking services for the ETFs will be provided by Figment, Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure, and Coinbase Canada. A 5% fee on the staking rewards generated by each fund is also expected to be charged.
The Ethereum exchange-traded fund, named the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust, is set to trade under the ticker “MSSE,” while the Solana-based product, called the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust, will be listed with the ticker symbol “MSOL.”
