Morgan Stanley Amends Solana and Ethereum ETF Filings to Add Staking and Disclose 0.14% Fee

Morgan Stanley filed amended S-1 registration statements with the SEC on June 18, 2026, for its Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (MSOL) and Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (MSSE), disclosing a 0.14% annual sponsor fee and adding staking provisions to both funds.

Fee Comparison: MSOL and MSSE Undercut Grayscale and Franklin Templeton

The 0.14% annual sponsor fee applies identically to both funds, calculated on each fund's net asset value daily and paid monthly. The sponsor receives no additional compensation beyond this fee.

At 0.14%, both funds would sit below the closest competitors: Franklin Templeton's SOEZ Ethereum ETF at 0.19% and the Grayscale Mini ETH Trust at 0.15%. Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), launched in April 2026 at the same 0.14% fee, had drawn $300.7 million in cumulative net inflows by mid-June, per Farside Investors flow data.

Staking Structure: 95% Retained in Fund

The amendments add staking mechanics to both trusts. Staking providers named in the filings are Figment Inc., Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure LLC, and Coinbase Canada Inc. Under the disclosed structure, 95% of staking rewards remain within the trust; the remaining 5% goes to service providers and custodians as compensation. The sponsor receives no additional share of staking rewards.

For the Ethereum fund, custodians deposit ETH into Ethereum staking smart contracts while third-party providers operate validators on behalf of the trust. The filing notes that as of May 18, 2026, approximately 3.64 million ETH sat in the validator activation queue, with a daily activation limit of roughly 57,600 ETH, implying a wait of approximately 63 days before newly staked ETH begins earning rewards. Slashing risk is disclosed: staked ETH remains subject to penalties if validators violate network rules or fail performance obligations.

For the Solana fund, the filing uses a delegated validator model. The filing discloses that custodians do not hold private keys for staked SOL, a structural distinction from the Ethereum approach. No specific daily staking limit for SOL is mentioned in the amendments.

Amendment, Not Approval

These are amendments to original S-1 filings submitted in January 2026. The SEC has not approved either product for trading. The amendments update the filings to include fee disclosures and staking mechanics; they do not constitute regulatory clearance or a launch date.

Morgan Stanley is one of the largest global investment banks by client assets. The MSBT inflow trajectory since April 2026 reflects the institutional distribution reach behind these two pending altcoin products.

For more background on how staking is being integrated into institutional ETF structures on Solana, see Institutional-Grade Staking in ETFs with Helius and Bitwise and The Future of Staking On Solana with Michael Repetný.