USDMorgan Stanley Files for Spot Bitcoin and Solana ETFs as U.S. Crypto ETF Trading Volume Surpasses $2 Trillion
Wall Street Giant Signals Deeper Institutional Commitment as Bitcoin and Solana Enter New Regulatory Phase
TL;DR
- Morgan Stanley submitted S-1 filings for spot Bitcoin and Solana ETFs on January 6, 2026, targeting direct crypto price exposure.
- The move comes as cumulative U.S. spot crypto ETF trading volume exceeds $2 trillion, highlighting sustained institutional demand.
- The inclusion of Solana alongside Bitcoin signals growing confidence in select non-BTC assets despite ongoing regulatory scrutiny.
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Morgan Stanley has formally entered the race for spot crypto exchange-traded funds, filing S-1 registration statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch products tracking the spot price of Bitcoin and Solana. The filings, submitted on January 6, 2026, place one of Wall Street’s most influential financial institutions squarely into a market that has already reshaped capital flows across digital assets, with U.S. spot crypto ETF trading volumes now exceeding $2 trillion. That threshold has increasingly been cited by market participants as evidence that crypto exposure through regulated vehicles has shifted from novelty to core financial infrastructure.
The proposed funds are designed to track the underlying crypto price of Bitcoin and Solana directly, rather than relying on futures or synthetic instruments, aligning Morgan Stanley with the regulatory framework that has governed spot Bitcoin ETFs since their approval nearly two years ago. By extending its filing to include Solana, the bank is making a calculated statement about the maturity and liquidity profile of the asset, positioning SOL as institutionally relevant alongside Bitcoin despite the SEC’s historically cautious stance toward non-BTC spot products. The filings themselves do not guarantee approval, but they formally initiate the review process, a step that often involves multiple amendments and extended timelines.
Market context adds weight to the timing of the move. Since the launch of the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, trading activity has expanded at a pace rarely seen in financial markets, pushing cumulative volume past $2 trillion and reinforcing demand from asset managers, wealth advisors, and institutional allocators. Analysts tracking the crypto price index across major digital assets note that ETF activity has become a key driver of spot liquidity and price discovery, influencing everything from intraday crypto price movements to longer-term shifts in coin market cap rankings.
Morgan Stanley’s filing represents an evolution rather than a departure from its prior stance on digital assets. The bank has previously offered Bitcoin exposure to clients through private funds and discretionary wealth products, but a spot ETF would significantly broaden access under a regulated, exchange-traded structure. Industry observers see the move as a strategic response to client expectations, particularly as competing financial institutions deepen their own ETF offerings and normalize crypto allocations within traditional portfolios.
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