Morgan Stanley Submits SEC Filing for Bitcoin and Solana ETFs
Morgan Stanley today filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish bitcoin and solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs), making it the latest asset manager to bolster its footprint in the cryptocurrency industry.
The firm submitted a Form S-1 on Jan. 6 to the SEC for a Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust and Solana Trust. According to the filing, the trusts would be designed to track the price of bitcoin, net of accrued fees and expenses. Both trusts would be sponsored directly by Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
This isn’t Morgan Stanley’s first foray into cryptocurrency. In October, the firm expanded crypto investing to all client accounts, including retirement plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Morgan Stanley previously only offered crypto investing to clients in taxable brokerage accounts with aggressive risk tolerances and who held over $1.5 million in assets.
Now, Morgan Stanley’s filing is the newest in a string of asset managers who have deepened their standing in cryptocurrency.
Firms including Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Fidelity, JPMorgan Chase, and others have all embraced crypto investments in the past months to years, as regulation on the digital assets eases up. President Donald Trump, a proponent of alternative funds, has been a staunch supporter of incorporating cryptocurrencies in retirement investments throughout his term.
His keenness for crypto has cleared the way for federal agencies to reduce regulation surrounding the investments. In May, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced that it would rescind a 2022 compliance release that formerly discouraged fiduciaries from including crypto options in retirement plans, adding that previous guidance was an “overreach” by the Biden Administration.
Later in July, Trump signed The Guide and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS), intended to expand the usage of stablecoins, a cryptocurrency tied to the value of other currencies like the U.S. dollar.
Despite the push, retirement plan advisors and plan sponsors remain skeptical of utilizing crypto investments in retirement funds, with many hesitant and leery of the funds’ volatile nature and future regulatory uncertainty.
Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with nearly a decade of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado.