Morgan Stanley Files for Ethereum Staking ETF

Morgan Stanley Expands Crypto Product Offerings

Morgan Stanley has submitted an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for Ether, thereby adding to the growing list of crypto products offered by the financial giant. This initiative aims to capture additional returns from its Ether holdings through staking, as institutional investors unveil more regulated crypto funds.

The fund, named Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust, specifically aims to acquire, hold, and track the price of Ether in the spot market. According to the filed document, the fund will not seek to engage in the “speculative selling” of Ether to realize extra returns, but will instead utilize third-party staking services to generate passive yield from a portion of its holdings.

This move marks Morgan Stanley's third ETF filing in the crypto space, a bank that has previously made similar applications for a Bitcoin ETF and one for Solana.

Once approved by the SEC, the new fund could represent a significant source of demand for Ether, especially as Ether ETFs have shown remarkable resilience following a record correction in the crypto market, which prompted massive sell-offs.

Furthermore, major investors, known as “whales,” have increased their exposure to Ether despite sell-offs by top industry traders. Over the past week, these whales have acquired a total of $4.83 million worth of Ether, in contrast to the $8.9 million sold by strategic traders.