Morgan Stanley Deepens Crypto Push With Bitcoin and Solana ETF Filings

Morgan Stanley is pushing further into crypto after filing for Bitcoin and Solana Trusts with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The firm, which manages nearly $9 trillion in assets, wants to give institutional investors easy price exposure to BTC and SOL through ETF-style products. The Bitcoin Trust will track the price of Bitcoin and offer spot exposure, using in-kind creation and redemption.

However, Morgan Stanley has not yet disclosed key details such as the exchange where the ETF will be listed or the custodian that will hold the assets. The Solana Trust will work similarly by tracking the price of SOL. In addition, Morgan Stanley plans to stake the Solana held by the fund to generate extra yield for investors.

Like the Bitcoin filing, the Solana Trust did not include information on the listing exchange or custodian. Still, the staking feature could make the product more attractive to institutions looking for returns beyond simple price gains. These filings show how traditional financial firms are becoming more comfortable with crypto.

Morgan Stanley Set to Join Major Crypto ETF Issuers

Morgan Stanley has already taken steps in this direction. Last year, the firm said it would roll out crypto trading for retail clients through its E-Trade platform, starting with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. It also removed earlier limits that restricted Bitcoin investments for its wealth management clients.

If approved, Morgan Stanley will join other major ETF issuers like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Bitwise. There are already 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs, holding about $123.5 billion in assets, or nearly 7% of Bitcoin’s market value. These ETFs recently recorded their largest daily inflow since the October market crash.

On the Solana side, spot ETFs launched in October have already attracted $1.09 billion, equal to about 1.4% of SOL’s market cap. Morgan Stanley now aims to become the ninth issuer in the Solana ETF market.

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