Morgan Stanley plans to launch ETFs tied to the value of Bitcoin and Solana, the primary and sixth-largest crypto property by market capitalisation respectively, in accordance to a Kind S-1 filed with the US Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC).
That is the primary time one of many ten largest US banks by whole property has formally moved to supply crypto ETFs.
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a basket of property that trades on a inventory alternate like a share, giving buyers straightforward publicity to an index, sector or commodity with out proudly owning it straight.
Many buyers favour gaining crypto publicity through ETFs as a result of they’re low-cost and handy. They will additionally supply higher liquidity whereas eradicating the regulatory and logistical issues of holding and safeguarding the underlying property straight.
Nevertheless, within the two years for the reason that SEC authorised the primary US-listed Bitcoin ETF, it has largely been asset managers relatively than banks which have launched these merchandise.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset supervisor, mentioned final December that its Bitcoin ETF suite had grow to be the agency’s high income supply, with allocations nearing $100 billion (€85bn) and producing greater than $245 million (€210mn) in annual charges.
US banks, which have solely acted as custodians of consumer funds till now, appear prepared and keen to evolve as suppliers of crypto providers in 2026.
Regulatory push beneath Trump
The present US administration has been notably beneficial in the direction of the crypto asset trade. President Donald Trump’s household launched a crypto platform, World Liberty Monetary, simply 50 days earlier than the 2024 presidential election.
The corporate is managed by Trump’s two eldest sons, Donald Jr and Eric Trump, and alongside one other agency, Trump Media and Expertise Group, it has expanded the US President’s private crypto ventures.
In parallel to these non-public pursuits, the present US administration has made a serious regulatory push encouraging Wall Street to totally embrace crypto property.
In July 2025, Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing Nationwide Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) into legislation, making a complete regulatory framework for stablecoins. These are crypto property designed to keep a secure worth by pegging their value to a real-world asset, usually a fiat foreign money such as the US greenback.
That very same month, the Crypto Authorized Accountability, Registration and Transparency for Buyers Act (CLARITY Act) was authorised within the US Congress. It’s now transferring by the US Senate and is predicted to cross on 15 January 2026.
The CLARITY Act is a landmark laws supposed to finish the long-standing period of “regulation by enforcement” that has weighed on US crypto companies for years.
In September 2025, the SEC additionally revamped itemizing guidelines for brand new commodities ETFs, together with these tied to crypto property, clearing the way in which for companies to carry extra monetary merchandise to market.
The shift helped spur Morgan Stanley to broaden consumer entry to crypto investments in October 2025, and it has now filed with the SEC to supply crypto ETFs straight.
At the beginning of 2026, Financial institution of America additionally started permitting its wealth advisers to advocate crypto allocations in consumer portfolios, one other signal of rising adoption of crypto property amongst main US banks.
What this implies for the EU
This improvement within the US banking sector and the crypto trade just isn’t solely important for Wall Street, but in addition has direct implications for European buyers.
US-listed ETFs are usually not out there to European retail buyers as a result of they don’t meet EU necessities beneath the Undertakings for Collective Funding in Transferable Securities (UCITS) regime.
Morgan Stanley has been increasing its footprint within the European ETF market since coming into the house in 2023, and has been constructing the infrastructure wanted to launch EU-compliant variations of those funds.
Whereas Europe has but to see a UCITS-compliant spot crypto ETF, main platforms such as Coinbase, one of many world’s largest crypto asset exchanges, are partnering with monetary establishments, together with Morgan Stanley, to allow crypto ETF buying and selling in Europe this yr.
Collectively, they purpose to comply not solely with UCITS, but in addition with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Property (MiCA) guidelines, which require companies to maintain a Crypto-Asset Service Supplier (CASP) licence.
Morgan Stanley’s leap signifies that for Wall Street, crypto is not a reputational danger to keep away from, however a income stream they will not afford to ignore.
