Morgan Stanley filed for registration of an Ethereum spot Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on Wednesday, becoming the latest US bank to do so. This ETF will track the price of ETH and pass Staking rewards directly to shareholders.
This information comes just days after Bank of America expanded customer access to digital assets in response to growing demand from institutional investors.
Wall Street giants join the ETF market.
Besides Ethereum, Morgan Stanley also filed applications for Bitcoin and Solana -related ETFs on Tuesday.
Despite entering the crypto market relatively late, this move marks Morgan Stanley's first foray into this type of ETF. The announcement comes nearly two years after crypto-focused ETFs began to proliferate in the US.
Morgan Stanley's S-1 filing is a significant step in integrating crypto into traditional finance. Managing assets worth $1.6 trillion, the bank is expanding opportunities for clients to access crypto through legitimate and regulated investment products.
This move reflects a major shift among veteran Wall Street financial institutions as they increasingly seek to become more deeply involved in the digital asset sector.
On Monday, BeInCrypto reported that Bank of America has allowed asset management advisors to recommend that clients allocate 1% to 4% of their portfolios to crypto.
Previously, companies such as BlackRock , Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup had also launched trading and provided Tokenize services.
Although many banks fear missing out on opportunities related to crypto, the overall market has not been performing well recently.
Support from banks contrasts with market weakness.
Although Morgan Stanley supports making crypto more widely accessible, this decision comes at a time of significant market volatility.
The majority of assets from Bitcoin spot ETFs remain concentrated in retail investors, many of whom have recently suffered losses.
In this context, an increasing number of professional investors are participating , with institutional ownership rising from 20% to 28%, indicating that the market is gradually rebalancing in terms of participants.
At the time of writing, the entire crypto market has lost approximately $600 billion in Bitcoin Capital since October 2023. Small- Capital coin indices have fallen to levels seen in November 2020, and newly listed altcoin ETFs have quickly fallen into negative territory .
The market is also awaiting the announcement by US President Donald Trump, who is expected to nominate his nominee for the position of Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed) as early as this coming Friday.
Kevin Hassett is currently a leading candidate to replace Jerome Powell. If Hassett is appointed, the market anticipates a more dovish monetary policy .
