cryptobriefing.com
Key Takeaways
- Morgan Stanley Investment Management filed S-1 registration statements for proposed spot Bitcoin and spot Solana ETFs.
- The proposed ETFs would track the spot prices of Bitcoin and Solana, with the Solana fund also incorporating staking to earn additional rewards.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the $1.8 trillion asset management arm of global financial firm Morgan Stanley, on Tuesday submitted S-1 filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission seeking approval to launch its spot Bitcoin and spot Solana exchange-traded funds.
The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust aims to offer investors a simple way to gain exposure to Bitcoin. The proposed fund would hold Bitcoin directly and use a pricing benchmark based on trading activity across major spot exchanges, operating as a passive vehicle without leverage or derivatives.
The proposed Solana fund would track the price performance of Solana, the native crypto asset of the Solana blockchain, but unlike the Bitcoin product, the Solana trust plans to stake a portion of its holdings, allowing staking rewards to accrue to the fund and be reflected in its net asset value.
Morgan Stanley was the first major bank to allow its financial advisors to proactively pitch Bitcoin ETFs to clients. The bank has continued to expand its digital asset footprint, including plans to provide crypto services through its E*Trade brokerage platform, alongside the proposed ETF products.
Morgan Stanley’s Global Investment Committee has advised wealth management clients to allocate 2% to 4% of their portfolios to crypto, based on risk tolerance. The committee views crypto as a maturing speculative asset class, likened to ‘digital gold.’