Morgan Stanley 0.14% Fee Sets New Floor in Crypto ETF Fee War

Morgan Stanley filed amended S-1 registration statements with the SEC on June 18, 2026, for two planned spot crypto ETFs, a spot Ethereum ETF and a spot Solana ETF, both carrying a 0.14% annual unitary sponsor fee, the lowest in the US market for either asset class, according to the filings.

The central question the filing raises is: does a fee this low, paired with a 95% staking reward pass-through, effectively end the crypto ETF fee war before rivals have a chance to respond?

With Morgan Stanley getting closer to approval for its spot ETH and SOL ETFs, the total crypto market cap dropped by -2.4% overnight, falling to $2.23 trillion after being over $2.5 trillion less than two weeks ago.

What the Morgan Stanley SEC Filings Actually Say

The two products are proposed under ticker symbols MSSE for the Ethereum ETF and MSOL for the Solana ETF, both targeting a listing on NYSE Arca.

The 0.14% fee is structured as a single charge; it accrues daily on net asset value and is paid monthly in cash, with Morgan Stanley Investment Management absorbing most ordinary fund operating expenses from that single fee rather than stacking additional charges on top of it.

The staking mechanics are equally notable. A portion of each fund’s ETH and SOL holdings will be staked via three named providers: Figment, Galaxy Infrastructure LLC, and Coinbase Canada.

Of all staking rewards generated, 95% flows directly back into the trust, boosting net asset value for shareholders, while only 5% is paid to those staking service providers. Morgan Stanley, as sponsor, collects no additional cut of staking income beyond its 0.14% management fee.

These are the second round of amendments for both filings, which were originally submitted in January 2026. The June 18 SEC filing marks the first time a specific fee was confirmed for either product; prior amendments in March and May added structural details like the proposed MSOL ticker and the staking component, but left the fee blank.

Morgan Stanley Ether and Solana ETFs nearing launch. The fee on each is going to be 14bps making them the cheapest in U.S. and world. 🔥 https://t.co/8pLJIj8DI7

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) June 19, 2026

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How This Reshapes the Crypto ETF Fee War

Context matters here. Existing US spot Ethereum ETF products from issuers including BlackRock and Fidelity have generally proposed fees in the 0.20–0.30% range.

On the Solana side, Franklin Templeton’s SOEZ – one of the further-along Solana ETF filings – sits at 0.19%. Morgan Stanley’s 0.14% undercuts both benchmarks by a meaningful margin at this fee level.

The Bitcoin ETF fee war of 2024 saw BlackRock’s IBIT (0.25%) and Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust (0.15%) engage in rounds of cuts and temporary waivers to capture assets under management.

BlackRock has since added yield-bearing structures to its Bitcoin ETF lineup to compete on more than fees alone. Morgan Stanley is running a different play: enter at the fee floor from day one and add staking yield on top, making the all-in cost case harder to beat.

In a separate amended S-1 for its proposed Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, the bank also set a 0.14% fee, which would undercut both Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust and BlackRock’s IBIT if approved.

That product launched in April 2026, making the ETH and SOL filings the next phase of what amounts to a coordinated, low-cost, multi-asset ETF stack. The SEC approval process for similar institutional products has been progressing, as evidenced by recent approvals of crypto ETFs for institutional issuers.

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What Investors Should Watch For

Both the MSSE Ethereum ETF and the MSOL Solana ETF remain under SEC review with no confirmed launch dates. The submission of further amendments is a sign of active regulatory engagement, not approval. Trading cannot begin until the S-1s are declared effective and NYSE Arca receives approval of the rule change for each product.

The next visible milestones are SEC comment responses and any NYSE Arca rule-change filings, which would signal the products are moving toward operational readiness.

The more immediate market effect may be competitive: whether BlackRock, Fidelity, or Franklin Templeton revise their own Ethereum or Solana ETF fee schedules downward in response to the 0.14% level now set by Morgan Stanley.

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