Morgan Stanley Adds Staking Incentives to Ethereum and Solana ETFs

Morgan Stanley has updated its proposed Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded funds to include staking, allowing 95% of rewards to stay within the trusts. The sponsor will charge a 0.14% annual fee. This move reflects Morgan Stanley's efforts to expand its digital asset product lineup.

The amended filings for both trusts show that custodians would deposit ETH or SOL into staking smart contracts, while third-party staking service providers would operate validators on behalf of the fund. The filing noted that staked assets remain exposed to slashing penalties if validators fail to meet network requirements or violate protocol rules.

The Ethereum filing provided additional details on validator limits and staking delays. As of May 18, 2026, approximately 3.64 million ETH were waiting in the validator activation queue. Based on current limitations, Morgan Stanley estimated that newly staked ETH could face a waiting period of around 63 days before becoming eligible to earn staking rewards.

The Solana trust follows a similar reward-sharing model, with validators operated by staking service providers acting as delegated validators for the trust's staked assets. However, unlike the Ethereum filing, the Solana amendment did not specify a daily limit on how much SOL could enter staking.