BlackRock Rules Out Solana ETF for Now, But Rivals Explore the Option

Now that Bitcoin and Ethereum have their exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the market, which crypto is next? This has been the question investors have been posing

With Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs now trading, investors are wondering which crypto will be next. Solana and XRP are among the contenders, but BlackRock says it’s not planning any more crypto ETFs for now.

Samara Cohen, BlackRock’s CIO for ETFs and Index Investments, appeared on Bloomberg on Monday to discuss the latest ETF trends. And unlike in the past, when crypto was rarely mentioned, it’s now one of the hottest topics in the ETF industry this year. She spoke about the launch of BlackRock’s Ethereum spot ETF (ETHA), the performance of other ETH products, and more.

When asked if a Solana ETF could be next now that the company has seen great success with both BTC and ETH, Cohen said, “Not in the near term”, and that there isn’t enough demand from investors yet.

We really look at the investability to see what meets the criteria, what meets the bar to be delivered in an ETF. For us, both in terms of investability and also what we hear from our clients, Bitcoin and Ethereum definitely meet that bar, but it will be a while before we see anything else.

While the $10 trillion asset manager dismisses SOL, some of its peers and competitors are already exploring a Solana ETF. One of them is Franklin Templeton, a BlackRock rival with $1.5 trillion in assets under management. As we reported last week, the company was full of praise for Solana, saying it “has shown major adoption and continues to mature, overcoming technological growing pains and highlighting the potential of high-throughput, monolithic architectures.”

SOL trades at $182, dipping 5% in the past day as the broader market soured, for an $84.75 billion market cap, which was enough to keep it at fourth, just above BNB, which it flipped recently.

Ethereum ETFs’ Continued Growth Amid Grayscale Bleed

Later in the Bloomberg interview, the BlackRock CIO discussed the continued success of its Ethereum ETF. Known as ETHA, it has brought in $442 million, nearly twice the second-placed Bitwise, at $269 million. Fidelity is third with $219 million. Below these three on the fourth spot is Grayscale Mini, the crypto investment firm’s breakaway product with zero fees that branched off from its main ETF.

Grayscale’s main Ethereum ETH, ETHE, lost $1.5 billion in just four days.

Cohen says the growth will continue, telling Bloomberg:

Investors really want their ETH exposure, especially if they are going to use it in the context of an overall portfolio in an ecosystem they have confidence in.