Morgan Stanley has filed two Form S-1 registrations with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) and a Solana trust. The move marks a strategic shift for the Wall Street giant, which has so far distributed third-party crypto products but now aims to create its own vehicles.
The bitcoin product, named the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, is structured as an ETF that tracks the price of bitcoin net of fees and expenses, according to the Jan. 6 filing. The trust is sponsored by Morgan Stanley Investment Management and will hold bitcoin directly — no derivatives, no leverage. Net asset value will be calculated daily using a designated bitcoin pricing benchmark derived from activity on major spot exchanges. The fund is passive and will not attempt to trade bitcoin based on market conditions.
Shares will be created and redeemed only in large blocks by authorized participants, either in cash or in kind. Cash transactions will go through third-party bitcoin counterparties selected by the sponsor. Retail investors can buy and sell shares on the secondary market via brokerage accounts.
Market backdrop: Bitcoin ETFs are on a roll
Morgan Stanley's filings come as spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. have amassed $123 billion in total net assets, equivalent to 6.57% of bitcoin's total market cap, per SoSoValue data. Net inflows since the start of the year have topped $1.1 billion. Solana trusts, meanwhile, have grown to more than $1 billion in total net assets, with cumulative inflows near $800 million.
By building its own funds, Morgan Stanley can capture management fees that previously went to rivals like BlackRock and Fidelity. BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETFs became the firm's top revenue source in November last year, according to BlackRock Brazil's business development director Cristiano Castro, with allocations approaching $100 billion.
Leveraging wealth management muscle
Unlike pure asset managers, Morgan Stanley operates a massive wealth management division with thousands of advisors. It opened crypto access to clients in October last year. By issuing its own ETFs, the bank can vertically integrate these products into client portfolios, keeping fees in-house rather than paying them to competitors.
The SEC has not set a timeline for approval. Analysts note that while the bitcoin ETF enjoyed a relatively smooth regulatory path, the Solana trust may face more skepticism. Still, the filings underscore a clear trend: traditional finance giants are no longer merely observers — they are building the on-ramps themselves.