Morgan Stanley is expanding its digital asset business beyond Bitcoin to include Ethereum and Solana. Its investment management division recently launched two spot ETPs that, in addition to tracking the price of the underlying assets, will also use a portion of their holdings for staking and distribute the corresponding profits to investors.
Two products launched simultaneously
The two products are the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust, trading under the ticker symbols MSSE and MSOL, and listed on the NYSE Arca. Morgan Stanley stated that both funds will charge an expense ratio of 0.14%.
The company stated that the product will track the price performance of Ethereum and Solana respectively, while staking a portion of the holdings. The resulting staking rewards will be directly passed on to investors.
Extending from Bitcoin to more crypto assets
This launch continues Morgan Stanley's ongoing investment in digital assets this year. The company launched a spot Bitcoin trust product in April. According to company data, as of July 16, this product managed assets exceeding $381 million.
Morgan Stanley also stated that its ETF and ETP platforms currently cover 22 products with a total of over $14 billion in assets under management. Ally Wallace, the company's global head of ETFs, said the new products are a natural extension of its digital asset product line, aiming to provide investors with simplified exposure to crypto assets through ETPs.
Several encryption projects have been advanced this year.
In addition to its fund products, Morgan Stanley is also pushing forward with more blockchain-related businesses this year. In April, the company's management stated that it was exploring tokenized money market funds, providing digital asset tax management strategies through its subsidiary Parametric, and other blockchain-based products.
In July, Morgan Stanley partnered with Zero Hash to open spot trading of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana to eligible E*TRADE clients. These clients can buy, sell, and hold digital assets on the same platform, managing them alongside traditional investment products such as stocks.
In terms of product scope, this Wall Street firm is attempting to expand its crypto asset services from a single Bitcoin product to multi-asset allocation and trading scenarios. The launch of Ethereum and Solana spot ETPs also demonstrates that large asset management institutions are continuing to test the path of combining staking yields with traditional trading products.
