Morgan Stanley Files 0.14% ETH ETF, Glamsterdam Targets 71% Fee Cut and 200M Gas

Ethereum News

Morgan Stanley filed amended S-1 registration statements with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on June 18, advancing its proposed spot Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded funds toward launch and broadening institutional access into the largest altcoin markets. The official filing (SEC EDGAR) sets the sponsor fee at 0.14%, a level that would rank among the cheapest Ethereum and Solana products in the United States. By comparison, the lowest existing Ethereum fund charges 0.15% and the cheapest Solana vehicle 0.19%. Both applications, originally submitted in January, have now reached their second amendment — a sequence that typically signals active dialogue with regulators and steady progress toward eventual approval.

The revised Ethereum filing details a staking structure in which 95% of staking rewards are retained inside the fund, with the remaining 5% paid to staking-service providers; the sponsor draws only its 0.14% management fee. Custody is split between BNY Mellon and Coinbase Custody Trust, while Figment, Galaxy and Coinbase Canada are named as staking operators. The filing also discloses risks rarely spelled out in earlier applications: as of May 18, roughly 3.64 million ETH sat in the validator activation queue, and with the network admitting about 57,600 ETH per day, new stakers could face waits of up to 63 days before earning rewards. Slashing penalties for protocol violations are likewise flagged.

Ethereum's next major upgrade, Glamsterdam, has entered its final devnet phase with all proposed EIPs activated, marking the last checkpoint before public testnet deployment. Developers are targeting a mainnet rollout in the second half of 2026, following December's Fusaka upgrade. The release centers on two proposals: EIP-7732 embeds enshrined proposer-builder separation, or ePBS, directly into the protocol, reducing reliance on external relays and reshaping the MEV pipeline, while EIP-7928 introduces block-level access lists that let nodes pre-map storage dependencies for parallel execution. Together they form the groundwork for raising the gas limit toward 200 million and pushing throughput toward 10,000 transactions per second on the blockchain.

The same upgrade is set to cut standard ETH transfer fees by as much as 71%, redesigning the fee schedule so routine transfers reflect only their base processing cost. ePBS extends the window available for data propagation from roughly two seconds to about nine, easing pressure on validators and widening capacity for layer-2 blob data. A separate proposal, EIP-8037, caps annual state growth at 120 GiB to keep node operation viable on consumer hardware, while new account creation and large contract deployments would carry fixed costs tied to permanent storage. The bundle pairs cheaper everyday transactions with more disciplined long-term network expansion.

Governance questions resurfaced as Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down as co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, effective immediately, after returning from a sabbatical. Her exit follows the earlier departure of fellow co-director Tomasz Stanczak and extends a striking run of turnover — at least eight senior figures have left over the past five months, with an estimated 19 layoffs and departures logged this year. Board member Bastian Aue has guided the interim transition. The reshuffle aligns with Vitalik Buterin's stated plan to convert the Foundation into a leaner organization focused on censorship resistance, privacy and security, even as community scrutiny of its strategic direction intensifies.

On-chain and derivatives data paint a cautious near-term picture. Ether futures open interest has fallen roughly 31% over the past month to about $10.3 billion, the lowest aggregate reading since April 2025, while the estimated leverage ratio retreated from an early-June high near 1.10 to 0.83. Net inflows of about 57,700 ETH to Binance, paired with only around 320 new depositor addresses, point to thin fresh demand. With perpetual funding flattened near zero and options open interest near multi-month lows, analysts warn that positioning has washed out — leaving ETH coiled for a sharp move and vulnerable to renewed selling below $1,700 in a deepening bear market.

COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite scoring engine rates the $1,712 resistance at 82/100 — the chart's most decisive ceiling — built on the confluence of the Fibonacci 0.214 retracement, the prior daily close and the R1 pivot. Immediate support at $1,674 scores 70/100, anchored by the S1 pivot and a prior-day low, with a deeper strong floor at $1,506 (69/100). Derivatives skew bullish but fragile: a positive 0.0026% funding rate and a 2.66 long/short ratio show 72.7% of accounts long against $6.22 billion in open interest — a crowded stance amid a 14/100 Extreme Fear reading. With RSI near 37 and an all-time high still distant, reclaiming $1,712 opens $1,872, while losing $1,674 invalidates the bounce.