Morgan Stanley has launched exchange-traded products that give investors staked exposure to Ethereum and Solana, with Coinbase providing the underlying technology. The move brings crypto staking — a process that generates yield by locking up tokens to secure a blockchain — into the mainstream Wall Street product lineup for the first time from a bank of this size.
What the ETPs offer
The new products are structured as exchange-traded products, meaning they trade on traditional exchanges like stocks. They track the price of staked Ethereum and staked Solana, respectively, with Coinbase handling the actual staking operations. That means investors get the token price movement plus the staking yield, without having to manage the technical side themselves.
Morgan Stanley didn't disclose the exact staking rates, but Ethereum staking currently yields around 3-4% annually, while Solana's is higher. The bank is targeting both institutional and wealth-management clients.
This isn't a small crypto fund testing the waters — it's Morgan Stanley, one of the largest asset managers in the world. The firm already offered Bitcoin and Ethereum exposure through other vehicles, but staking adds a yield component that traditional finance loves. Other banks have been watching from the sidelines, worried about regulatory risk. Morgan Stanley's move could break the logjam.
Coinbase, which powers the staking infrastructure, gets a major endorsement. The exchange has been pushing its staking-as-a-service offering for institutions, and this deal gives it a blue-chip reference client.
Regulatory and market implications
The launch comes at a time when U.S. regulators are still figuring out how to treat staked assets. The SEC has previously argued that some staking services amount to unregistered securities offerings. But by using a regulated ETP structure, Morgan Stanley may have found a path that satisfies both the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
If the products gain traction, they could boost confidence in Ethereum's long-term value proposition — staking is central to the network's security model. A wave of institutional staking could also reduce the amount of ETH and SOL available on exchanges, potentially tightening supply.
The products are live now. The next question is whether BlackRock or Fidelity will follow with their own staking ETPs — and how quickly the SEC responds.
