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- Morgan Stanley’s new MSSE (Ethereum) and MSOL (Solana) ETFs both charge a 0.14% fee, the lowest among peers, though 21Shares’ one-year fee waiver briefly makes its SOL fund cheaper.
- The firm’s spot bitcoin ETF has already gathered about $400 million in assets since launching four months ago, part of a broader $14 billion ETF and ETP business.
- The launch comes as Ethereum faces headwinds: L2 TVL has dropped to ~$5 billion, Foundation leadership has thinned out, and institutions like DTCC and JPMorgan are diversifying beyond Ethereum for tokenization.
Morgan Stanley made its move into altcoin exchange-traded funds on Tuesday, launching spot Ethereum and Solana products that undercut every existing competitor on price. Both funds charge a 0.14% sponsor fee, positioning them as the cheapest options in their respective categories — at least for now.
How the Fees Stack Up
The new Ethereum fund, trading under the ticker MSSE on the New York Stock Exchange, comes in below Grayscale’s Mini Ethereum Trust, which charges 0.15%. The Solana fund, ticker MSOL, undercuts Franklin Templeton’s SOL product by a wider margin, with that fund charging 0.19% according to SoSoValue data.
The pricing edge may be short-lived, though. Just a day before Morgan Stanley’s launch, 21Shares announced it was waiving fees entirely on its Solana ETF for a full year, dropping the cost from 0.21% to 0.00%. That temporarily makes 21Shares’ fund the cheapest way to get SOL exposure through an ETF, even as Morgan Stanley touts its own low-cost structure.
Morgan Stanley also plans to stake a portion of the ETH and SOL held in the funds, generating additional yield for investors beyond simple price exposure.
A Track Record Built on Bitcoin
This isn’t Morgan Stanley’s first crypto ETF. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas pointed out that the firm’s spot bitcoin ETF pulled in roughly $400 million over four months, a notable result given it launched during a bearish stretch for the market. The firm now manages more than $14 billion across its ETF and ETP lineup, according to Global Head of ETFs Ally Wallace, who described the new funds as a natural extension of that growing suite.
The launch arrives about two and a half years after BlackRock, Fidelity, and others rolled out the first spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., a wave that has since expanded to include funds tied to XRP and HYPE. Solana and Hyperliquid ETFs alone have made up close to 80% of trading volume outside the BTC and ETH categories recently, with Solana funds collectively holding over $900 million in assets.
Ethereum’s Rougher Patch
The timing is notable given Ethereum’s recent struggles. Total value locked across its Layer 2 networks has fallen to about $5 billion, a level not seen since 2023, erasing much of the growth built up during the 2024 rollup boom. Optimistic rollups like Optimism, Base, and Arbitrum still dominate that figure, holding 96% of L2 TVL.
The network has also seen leadership turnover, with the Ethereum Foundation losing several senior figures, including co-executive directors, amid broader staff reductions. Meanwhile, institutions once expected to validate Ethereum’s role in traditional finance have started hedging their bets — DTCC is tokenizing Treasuries against a $100 trillion custody base, and JPMorgan has expanded its JPM Coin across multiple public blockchains.
Stablecoins remain Ethereum’s strongest card. USDC and USDT still settle primarily on Ethereum and its L2s, keeping the network central to crypto’s bridge with traditional finance — though that reliance looks increasingly fragile given how dominant Ethereum was just a year ago.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The author’s views are personal and may not reflect the views of Chain Affairs. Before making any investment decisions, you should always conduct your own research. Chain Affairs is not responsible for any financial losses.
