Morgan Stanley Files for Ethereum ETF with Staking Rewards

According to the Form S-1 registration statement, the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust will be a passive investment vehicle sponsored by Morgan Stanley Investment Management. It will hold ether directly, with shares valued daily based on a pricing benchmark derived from major trading venues. A defining feature of this trust, as detailed in the filing, is its intention to stake a portion of its ETH holdings. The network rewards generated from this staking activity are planned to be distributed to shareholders at least quarterly, pending guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This structure directly addresses investor demand for yield within a regulated product framework.

The filing explicitly states the trust will implement a staking program to earn network rewards while simultaneously managing liquidity for redemptions. At the time of the filing, ETH was trading at approximately $3,211, according to CoinGecko data, down roughly 0.7% on the day. By incorporating staking, Morgan Stanley’s product aims to provide exposure not only to Ethereum’s price but also to the underlying economic activity of its proof-of-stake network, differentiating it from a simple holding vehicle.

The Ethereum Trust filing represents the latest step in a deliberate and expanding crypto strategy by the bank. This development builds directly on actions taken in late 2025. In October of that year, Morgan Stanley broadened access to crypto funds to all of its clients, including those with retirement accounts, after previously limiting such exposure to high-net-worth individuals. This democratization of access was a pivotal shift in the bank’s distribution approach.

Furthermore, in September 2025, the firm confirmed a partnership with Zerohash, a key entity mentioned in the source material, to enable Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL) trading directly through its E*Trade platform. The sequential nature of these moves—from enabling trading, to broadening client access, to now filing for proprietary ETF products—illustrates a calculated build-out of infrastructure and offerings. The bank’s CEO and Chairman, Ted Pick, has publicly framed this strategy around regulatory parameters, stating in a January interview that the approach “hinges on regulatory comfort” and whether the bank, “as a highly regulated financial institution, can act as transactors.”

The filings for the Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Solana trusts coincide with a notable shift in the U.S. regulatory posture toward digital assets. As noted in the source text, regulators under the current administration have adopted “a more accommodating approach to crypto markets.” This environment is explicitly credited with “opening the door for traditional financial firms to expand ETF offerings tied to digital assets.” For an institution like Morgan Stanley, whose leadership has emphasized regulatory clarity, this shift provides the necessary confidence to launch new, complex products like a staking-enabled ETF.

By filing for trusts tied to three major cryptocurrencies—BTC, ETH, and SOL—Morgan Stanley is not merely testing the waters with a single asset but is establishing a comprehensive suite of core crypto ETF offerings. This positions the bank to capture institutional and retail demand across the largest digital asset ecosystems. The move underscores how traditional finance (TradFi) giants are increasingly integrating crypto not as a niche experiment, but as a fundamental component of their future product lines, leveraging their scale, regulatory expertise, and client networks to bridge the gap between conventional finance and the digital asset space.