Morgan Stanley has filed with the SEC for approval of an Ethereum ETF with staking capabilities, completing its trio of digital assets after the filings for Bitcoin and Solana.
The US multinational financial company has formalized its offensive in the digital asset market by filing an application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch the “Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust”This strategic move comes just 24 hours after the financial institution registered similar requests for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to Bitcoin and Solana.
With this latest move, the investment bank consolidates a trio of products designed to offer regulated access to the three fundamental pillars of today's blockchain infrastructure.
The documentation submitted, specifically a Form S-1This reveals that the institution does not intend to limit itself to passive custody. The goal is to establish an investment vehicle that tracks the performance of ETH, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, integrating mechanisms for the generation of additional returnsThis decision puts Morgan Stanley in direct competition with asset managers already operating in the market, at a time when institutional appetite for cryptocurrencies shows clear signs of recovery at the start of 2026.
Create your account and trade BTC, SOL and ETH hereProfitability through staking: The value proposition of the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust
The defining characteristic of this new crypto ETF application is the explicit inclusion of staking strategies. Unlike first-generation ETFs, which functioned solely as instruments for tracking the price of the underlying asset, the fund proposed by Morgan Stanley seeks to actively participate in validating the Ethereum network.
According to the preliminary prospectus, the trust will have the power to lock up part of its ETH holdings to contribute to the security of the blockchain, receiving rewards programmed by the protocol in return.
This functionality transforms the nature of the listed product, shifting it from a purely speculative asset to one that generates income, similar to dividend payments in the traditional stock market. The strategy follows the path recently taken by firms like Grayscale, which have begun distributing returns derived from transaction validation to their investors, establishing a new standard of capital efficiency in regulated crypto products.
Despite the clarity of the investment strategy, the document keeps key operational aspects confidential. For example, the entity has not yet revealed the ticker symbol under which the fund will be traded, the specific stock exchange that will house the asset, or the name of the custodian responsible for the security of the private keys.
The absence of this data is common in the initial stages of registration, but its future disclosure will be critical to assessing the fund's cost structure and institutional security against its competitors.
Enter the financial future with Bit2MeBlackRock's dominance and market validation in 2026
Morgan Stanley's entry into the crypto market with its own branded products comes amid a resurgence of capital flows into Ethereum. Data from early 2026 shows robust demand. BlackRock, through its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETH), has capitalized on much of this interest, recording net inflows exceeding $344 million in the first three trading days of the year.
Trading volume supports this trend. During the January 6 session, the Ethereum ETF sector saw total net inflows of $114,7 million, according to Farside Investors metrics. BlackRock's fund alone absorbed 61.359 ETH in a single day, driven by a daily volume of around $1.000 billion. These figures confirm that high-net-worth individuals are rotating capital into the second-largest cryptocurrency, seeking exposure to its smart contract and decentralized finance ecosystem.
Source: Farside Investors
Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, highlighted the corporate significance of this move. According to Hougan, Morgan Stanley's decision to directly endorse these funds—rather than simply acting as an intermediary for third-party products—indicates a higher level of commitment. If they receive regulatory approval from the SEC, these instruments for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana would be the first of their kind to bear the mark of a global systemically important bank, potentially reducing the barriers for traditional financial advisors to allocate capital to this asset class.
Morgan Stanley continues to take steps in crypto expansion
The simultaneous application for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for three different cryptocurrencies suggests that Morgan Stanley has identified latent demand among its clients for diversification beyond Bitcoin. By adding Solana and Ethereum, the firm is betting on different technological narratives surrounding the digital store of value, such as the established smart contract platform and high-performance networks.
This move reflects a clear evolution within traditional banking. Large institutions are no longer simply offering basic access to digital assets, but are instead seeking to create more integrated structures with products that combine security, sophistication, and regulatory compliance. Morgan Stanley's strategy suggests a shift toward a model where the conventional financial world and the crypto ecosystem begin to share the same space, driving a new stage of competition for innovation and trust.
