Morgan Stanley plans to launch ETFs tied to the price of Bitcoin and Solana, the first and sixth-largest crypto assets by market capitalisation respectively, according to a Form S-1 filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
This is the first time one of the ten largest US banks by total assets has formally moved to offer crypto ETFs.
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a basket of assets that trades on a stock exchange like a share, giving investors easy exposure to an index, sector or commodity without owning it directly.
Many investors favour gaining crypto exposure via ETFs because they are low-cost and convenient. They can also offer greater liquidity while removing the regulatory and logistical complications of holding and safeguarding the underlying assets directly.
However, in the two years since the SEC approved the first US-listed Bitcoin ETF, it has largely been asset managers rather than banks that have launched these products.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said last December that its Bitcoin ETF suite had become the firm’s top revenue source, with allocations nearing $100 billion (€85bn) and generating more than $245 million (€210mn) in annual fees.
US banks, which have only acted as custodians of client funds until now, seem ready and eager to evolve as providers of crypto services in 2026.
The current US administration has been notably favourable towards the crypto asset industry. President Donald Trump’s family launched a crypto platform, World Liberty Financial, just 50 days before the 2024 presidential election.
The company is managed by Trump’s two eldest sons, Donald Jr and Eric Trump, and alongside another firm, Trump Media and Technology Group, it has expanded the US President’s personal crypto ventures.
In parallel to these private interests, the current US administration has made a major regulatory push encouraging Wall Street to fully embrace crypto assets.
Trump and Cabinet members at the White House Crypto Summit, March 2025 – AP Photo
In July 2025, Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) into law, creating a comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins. These are crypto assets designed to maintain a stable value by pegging their worth to a real-world asset, typically a fiat currency such as the US dollar.
That same month, the Crypto Legal Accountability, Registration and Transparency for Investors Act (CLARITY Act) was approved in the US Congress. It is now moving through the US Senate and is expected to pass on 15 January 2026.
The CLARITY Act is a landmark legislation intended to end the long-standing era of “regulation by enforcement” that has weighed on US crypto firms for years.