Key Takeaways

• Andy Burnham secured Makerfield constituency on June 18 with 54.8% of votes, positioning himself for Labour party leadership
• Prime Minister Keir Starmer anticipated to reveal resignation timeline on June 22, 2026
• Burnham has publicly expressed strong support for cryptocurrency, telling Web3 entrepreneurs he is fully committed to digital assets
• Current government implemented prohibition on cryptocurrency political donations in March 2026
• Over $11 million wagered on Polymarket regarding UK leadership transition, with Burnham leading predictions

By-elections rarely trigger immediate shifts in national governance. This particular contest may prove exceptional.

Andy Burnham, serving as Greater Manchester’s Mayor, captured the Makerfield parliamentary seat on June 18 with a commanding 54.8% majority. His margin over Reform UK exceeded 9,200 votes, with participation reaching nearly 59%—significantly higher than typical by-election engagement levels.

This electoral success eliminated the final procedural obstacle preventing a Labour leadership campaign. Almost immediately, speculation emerged that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was considering his position. While his office dismissed suggestions of an immediate departure, reports indicate cabinet members, union representatives, and party financiers have begun discussing transition arrangements.

Current expectations point toward Starmer announcing a departure schedule on June 22, 2026.

Implications for the Digital Asset Sector

The potential leadership change carries significant ramifications for the digital assets sector.

Starmer’s administration enacted a provisional prohibition on cryptocurrency contributions to political organizations in March 2026. This decision stemmed from recommendations in the independent Rycroft Review, which identified cryptocurrency’s pseudonymous nature as a potential conduit for foreign interference in British electoral politics.

Burnham has articulated a markedly different position. Addressing approximately 100 Web3 entrepreneurs at a Stand With Crypto gathering, he declared himself completely committed to the technology. He has consistently positioned Manchester as an emerging center for Web3 development, connecting this vision to the city’s manufacturing heritage.

Should Burnham assume the Prime Minister role, reconsideration of the cryptocurrency donation restriction appears probable. His tenure as Manchester’s mayor demonstrates consistent support for nascent technologies as economic catalysts.

Financial Markets Respond to Political Developments

Prediction platforms have registered rapid movement. Polymarket, the cryptocurrency-based forecasting platform, has seen over $11 million in positions taken on Britain’s leadership succession, with Burnham dominating as the anticipated successor.

Additionally, more than $2 million entered contracts specifically focused on Starmer’s exit timeline.

Traditional fixed-income markets have also demonstrated sensitivity. Britain’s 10-year government bond yield climbed to approximately 4.8% on Friday. Market participants appear more focused on Burnham’s anticipated fiscal stance than his cryptocurrency positioning.

The pound sterling declined in tandem with government bonds.

Bitcoin hovered around $63,900 during this timeframe, registering less than 1% daily appreciation. The cryptocurrency has declined roughly 17% over the previous month and 38% year-to-date, trading substantially below its October peak near $126,000. The political turbulence has not prompted a defensive rotation into cryptocurrency assets.

Digital asset adoption in the UK has also contracted. Financial Conduct Authority research indicates approximately 8% of British adults currently possess digital assets, declining from 12% in the prior year.

Burnham’s parliamentary induction and potential leadership declaration this week will establish the immediate trajectory for UK cryptocurrency regulation.

Morgan Stanley has updated its filings for its Ether and Solana exchange-traded funds, revealing that it plans to charge the lowest fees among its rivals.

The company filed amended Form S-1 statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission for each ETF on Thursday, showing it plans to undercut the current market offerings and charge fees of 0.14% for each of its products.

The current lowest-fee spot Ether (ETH) ETF in the US is the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF (ETH) at 0.15%, while Franklin Templeton’s spot Solana (SOL) ETF, the Franklin Solana ETF (SOEZ), charges the lowest fee among its competitors at 0.19%, according to Farside Investors.

It is the second time that Morgan Stanley has updated its ETF filings since it first filed for the ETFs in January, with amendments typically a signal that the SEC is close to approving the products for trading, which would make them the 11th spot Ether ETF and seventh spot Solana ETF to launch in the US.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted to X on Friday that the fees make them “the cheapest in [the] US and [the] world.”

Source: Eric Balchunas

Low fees have been a tactic for Morgan Stanley as it looks to make a late entry into the spot crypto ETF market dominated by issuers such as BlackRock and Fidelity. Its Bitcoin (BTC) ETF, which launched in April, set its fees at 0.14%, below Grayscale’s 0.15% fee on its mini Bitcoin ETF.

Related: Grayscale HYPE ETF ‘likely imminent’ as new update shows competitive fee: Analyst

That fee likely helped Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin fund to record a respectable first-day inflow of $30.6 million. The ETF has since seen total inflows of $331 million, surpassing ETFs from Invesco, Franklin Templeton and CoinShares, which all launched in January 2024.

Morgan Stanley’s latest filings also show that Figment, Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure and Coinbase Canada will provide the staking services for each of the ETFs, with each fund having a 5% staking fee for the rewards earned by the product.

The Ethereum ETF, called the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust, will feature the ticker “MSSE,” while the Solana ETF, dubbed the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust, will trade under MSOL. 

Magazine: Does ‘Paper Bitcoin’ mean there’s an unlimited supply of BTC?

Morgan Stanley has amended its filings for spot Ether and spot Solana exchange-traded funds, setting fees it says are designed to be the lowest available in the US market for comparable products. The updates—made via amended Form S-1 statements—signal the firm is continuing to move toward an SEC decision that would allow the funds to begin trading.

According to the SEC filings lodged Thursday, Morgan Stanley plans to charge a fee of 0.14% for each ETF. If approved, the funds would expand Morgan Stanley’s presence in the fast-growing US spot crypto ETF lineup.

Key takeaways

• Morgan Stanley amended its SEC filings for both a spot Ether and a spot Solana ETF, targeting 0.14% fees.
• Farside Investors data cited in the article indicates existing lowest-fee spot products currently charge 0.15% for Ether and 0.19% for Solana.
• Amendments to Form S-1 have often been interpreted by the market as a sign of advancing SEC review and potential approval.
• Earlier, Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin ETF launched with a 0.14% fee—matching its approach to undercut peers.
• Staking services for the proposed funds are set to involve Figment, Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure, and Coinbase Canada, with a 5% staking fee on rewards.

Fees take center stage as SEC review advances

The core detail in Morgan Stanley’s latest updates is pricing. In the amended filings for each fund, the company states it intends to charge 0.14% annually. The move is particularly notable because it would place Morgan Stanley’s products at the low end of the fee spectrum for spot crypto ETFs in the US.

As background, Farside Investors data referenced in the article shows the current lowest-fee spot Ether ETF in the US is the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF at 0.15%. For Solana, the lowest-fee spot offering cited is Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Solana ETF (SOEZ) at 0.19%, also based on Farside Investors’ figures.

Market watchers typically treat fee positioning as a proxy for how actively an issuer expects to compete for new assets. Lower expense ratios can make a fund more appealing to long-term allocators, especially when multiple spot crypto vehicles aim to track the same underlying assets.

Spot Ether and Solana proposals: what Morgan Stanley filed

The firm submitted amended Form S-1 statements for both proposed products on Thursday, as linked in the filings. The updates are the second set of amendments since Morgan Stanley first filed for the ETFs in January.

In practice, amendments are often read by the market as progress in negotiations and technical review—particularly because they generally appear closer to the moments when an issuer moves from preliminary review toward potential approval.

While the final SEC outcome is not guaranteed, the article notes that approval would add to the already expanding shelf of spot crypto products in the US, potentially bringing Morgan Stanley’s spot Ether ETF count to the 11th and spot Solana ETF count to the 7th among similar offerings, as described in the original coverage.

The specific fund naming and trading targets outlined in the article include:

• Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust with ticker MSSE
• Morgan Stanley Solana Trust with ticker MSOL

Why “cheap” matters: Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin playbook

Morgan Stanley has already used low fees as a market entry strategy in spot Bitcoin. Its Bitcoin ETF, launched in April, set its fee level at 0.14%, positioned below Grayscale’s 0.15% fee on its mini Bitcoin product, as noted in the article.

That fee decision appears to have been part of the firm’s early traction. The article references Cointelegraph coverage stating the fund recorded first-day inflows of $30.6 million and that total inflows have since reached $331 million, outpacing ETFs from Invesco, Franklin Templeton, and CoinShares that launched in January 2024.

Importantly, while inflow performance can be affected by many variables beyond fees—such as distribution reach, investor base, and timing—the repetition of a 0.14% expense ratio suggests Morgan Stanley is intentionally carrying forward a “competitive cost” approach across its crypto ETF expansion.

Staking services and the 5% reward fee

Morgan Stanley’s amended filings also address operational details tied to staking. The article says the filings indicate Figment, Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure, and Coinbase Canada will provide staking services for each of the ETFs.

Under the structure described, each fund would apply a 5% staking fee to rewards earned by the product. This matters for investors because staking-related fees can change the effective return experienced by shareholders, particularly for spot products where staking can influence yield dynamics compared with a simple spot exposure approach.

Even with a low base expense ratio, staking economics can differ from the headline management fee. Investors generally look at both the fund’s stated expense level and any additional costs associated with custody, network participation, and reward allocation.

What to watch next

With Morgan Stanley’s spot Ether and Solana ETFs moving through an active amendment cycle—and with fees positioned at the low end versus currently available rivals—the next steps for investors are to monitor SEC feedback and any further filing updates that often precede approval decisions. The open question remains whether the SEC’s review will conclude in a timeframe that brings these products to market, and how staking-related costs ultimately shape investor outcomes versus existing offerings.

Validators are entities that keep Ethereum running by locking up ether (ETH), checking transactions and earning staking rewards for doing so. Funding, in this context, means paying for the shared work Ethereum relies on, such as developer tools, security research, public infrastructure and other projects that help the network but do not always have a direct business model.

The proposal seeks to shift that burden toward validators, who earn ETH rewards for securing the network and benefit when Ethereum becomes more valuable.

It argued that validators are natural long-term stakeholders because better ecosystem funding can increase network activity, ETH burn and the value of staked ETH.

Validators could also select preferred funding recipients under the proposal. Those preferences would be combined into a ‘splitter’ contract that distributes redirected funds among chosen addresses. The design is meant to let validators “set and forget” their preferences rather than vote on every grant.

At current staking levels, the post estimated that validators receive roughly 700,000 ETH a year in rewards. A 5% to 10% redirect could send about 50,000 to 70,000 ETH a year toward ecosystem funding. That equates to about $120 million at ether’s current market prices.

The idea is likely to be controversial, however.

For years, users looking to speed up their transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain relied on a handy optional feature that essentially says, “I might want to replace this transaction with a higher fee.”

But what started as a helpful tool has become redundant and a small privacy issue, prompting some developers to discuss possible ways to do away with it.

Let’s first take a look at the so-called replace-by-fee (RBF) signaling, then discuss the developers’ proposals.

Replace by fee (RBF) signaling

Imagine sending a paper check through the mail, but the postal system is stretched and congested. To ensure your payment doesn’t get stuck, the check has a small checkbox that says, “I reserve the right to cancel this check and write a new one with a higher rush fee if it gets delayed.” (The higher fee, of course, is an incentive for the postal system to prioritize your transaction.)

Such a feature is called Replace-by-Fee (RBF) in the Bitcoin ecosystem. For years, when you sent bitcoin, your wallet let you flip a switch, signaling to the network that you might want to “fee-bump” to speed up your transaction later.

Altura will begin winding down its stablecoin yield vault after a sharp rise in withdrawal requests over the weekend. 

CEO Ranveer Arora said the protocol processed more than 8.5 million USDT in instant redemptions over 24 hours before deciding to close the vault in an orderly way.

Arora said the team made the move because of “sustained withdrawal demand and current market sentiment.” He added that Altura’s priority was user capital and that the team wanted all redemptions completed in a “fair, transparent, and efficient manner.” The announcement marks a sharp change for a vault built around stablecoin yield on HyperEVM.

Altura stablecoin vault positions now being unwound

Altura has notified counterparties and partners about the decision and started unwinding positions across the vault portfolio. Arora said those positions include allocations held on exchanges, private credit opportunities and real-world asset strategies.

Some positions can return capital quickly, while others need standard settlement and redemption periods. Arora said the team is working with counterparties to speed up the process where possible, and that capital will return to users as underlying positions are redeemed. He said the team will keep posting updates as more liquidity becomes available.

Main Street depeg fuels market concern

The wind-down followed wider concern across yield-bearing stablecoin markets after Main Street’s MSUSD lost its peg. The token fell sharply after Accountable, its proof-of-solvency provider, ended its service agreement with MainStreet and said the project was “unable to meet our verification standards.”

MainStreet later said its assets remained fully backed and blamed the market stress on the shutdown of a third-party proof-of-reserves dashboard. As previously reported by crypto.news, MSUSD traded far below its intended $1 peg while lending liquidity on the Morpho msY/USDC market tightened.

Altura blames misinformation and speculation

Altura said earlier that it had no direct exposure to Main Street or its strategies. It also said its HyperEVM lending vault, Alpha USDT Prime, the related USDT/AVLT market and borrowers using its Ethereum vault remained unaffected by the Main Street event.

Arora said Altura had worked around the clock through the weekend to process withdrawals and speak with partners and users. He criticized what he called “misinformation and speculation,” saying unfounded narratives had added to market fear and withdrawal pressure.

Stablecoin vault risks return to focus

DefiLlama data showed Altura with about $32.36 million in total value locked on Hyperliquid L1, with one tracked yield pool and an average APY near 17.49%. The vault had reached a peak total value locked of about $39 million on HyperEVM.

The case comes as demand for tokenized real-world asset and stablecoin yield products grows. Crypto.news recently reported that Plume and Ether.fi launched a $100 million yield-bearing RWA vault, while separate coverage of MSUSD showed how a proof-of-reserves dispute can quickly move into wider liquidity concerns.

Altura said it will keep giving updates as redemptions progress and new liquidity becomes available. For users, the main questions now are the speed of settlements, how much capital returns in each stage and whether the process can avoid rushed sales of slower portfolio positions. The protocol has not set a final completion date, leaving the redemption timeline tied to each position’s settlement terms.

Taiko has urged users to withdraw funds from all bridges deployed on its network after confirming a compromise of its chain state verification mechanism. 

The Ethereum Layer 2 project said the security assumptions behind its bridge system could no longer be relied upon.

The notice followed alerts from blockchain security firm Blockaid, which said its exploit detection system found an ongoing attack on Taiko’s ERC20 Vault on Ethereum. Blockaid put losses at more than $1 million and shared the victim contract, attacker wallet and exploit transactions.

Blockaid points to Taiko proof validation flaw

Blockaid said the likely root cause was a flaw in Taiko bridge source-signal proof validation. The firm said crafted message proofs were accepted as valid on Ethereum L1 even though there were no matching legitimate “MessageSent” events on the Taiko source chain.

That allowed the attacker to register and later retrieve fraudulent bridge messages, leading to unauthorized asset releases from the ERC20 vault. Taiko later confirmed a broader verification problem and said it was working with the Security Council and ecosystem partners.

Moreover, Taiko also said all proposers had temporarily stopped producing new blocks while the team investigates and resolves the issue. The project asked centralized exchanges to suspend TAIKO deposits immediately and said deposits should resume only after an official notice.

The team published several attacker addresses as part of its update. It said it would take technical and legal steps where needed, but did not give a timeline for restoring bridge security or restarting block production.

Bridge risks remain in focus

Taiko is a Type 1 Ethereum-equivalent ZK-EVM rollup designed as a based rollup, where Ethereum L1 validators are expected to help order transactions. The network launched mainnet in May 2024 and supports Ethereum-compatible smart contracts and tools.

Meanwhile, crypto.news recently reported that cross-chain bridge exploits caused $28.6 million in May losses, or about 42% of that month’s total reported by CertiK.

The incident comes after other cross-chain security failures this year. As previously reported by crypto.news, Verus Protocol’s Ethereum bridge lost more than $11.5 million in a forged-transfer exploit, while Axelar disabled Secret Network bridge routes after a $4.7 million exploit.

Moreover, as crypto.news earlier reported, an old Aztec Connect contract lost about $2.1 million after a verification mismatch let unbacked balances move through Ethereum settlement records.