In brief
- The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF debuted on October 28.
- Spot Bitcoin ETFs have shed more than $2.1 billion in assets since then.
- Solana’s price has fallen about 29% over the past month.
While Bitcoin and Ethereum funds shed assets, Bitwise’s fledgling Solana ETF racked up more than $126 million in net inflows in its first full week of trading, an auspicious sign for the SOL-tracking product and potentially for other altcoin funds.
The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) has generated more than $545 million in net inflows since its October 28 debut on the New York Stock Exchange, including $223 million in seed investments, according to UK asset manager Farside Investments. BSOL’s share price closed up 5% in Friday trading.
“Inflows every day for the last 8 days since its launch,” crypto asset manager Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsely wrote in an X post early Friday. “Over $500,000,000 in total. It’s clear investors want Solana exposure.”
Over that period, the 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs have lost more than $2.1 billion in assets, while net outflows for the nine Ethereum funds have totaled $579 million. The Bitwise Solana fund’s promising start comes even as SOL’s price has been dropping, part of a market-wide downturn tied to a government shutdown and other macroeconomic uncertainties.
Solana was recently trading at $156, off more than 16% for the past week and nearly 29% over the last month, according to crypto markets data provider CoinGecko. Bitcoin has declined about 16% since early October when it rose to a record high above $126,000.
A Myriad prediction market found that only 13% of respondents expect Solana to surpass its record high of $293 by year’s end. Myriad is a unit of Dastan, the parent company of an editorially independent Decrypt.
In a text to Decrypt, etf.com Senior Analyst Sumit Roy wrote “the (Solana) inflows make sense,” noting the token’s massive $90 billion market value: “Solana has a devoted following, arguably the most devoted following after Bitcoin and Ethereum.”
He added: “It wouldn’t be surprising to see Solana ETFs collectively account for 5% of that market cap at the very least. So in that context, $500M is still small. The fact that BSOL launched with 100% staking certainly made it more attractive as well.”
The listing of the Bitwise fund and a Grayscale Solana ETF last week surprised some hopeful observers, who had feared the current government shutdown would delay a regulatory process that had already taken months.
But the NYSE certified 8-A filings that offered the fund managers an alternative route to the recent ETF approval process. Issuers file these forms with the SEC to register certain securities under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The funds met the generic listing standards adopted by the SEC in September for commodity-based trusts. The Grayscale Solana Trust ETF (GSOL) has received about $114 million in net inflows, most of them in seed investments.
Last week, spot Litecoin and Hedera funds from Canary began trading after the Nasdaq certified their 8-A submissions. Other altcoin-focused funds benefiting from the same SEC rule change may soon also be available to investors.
In a Thursday filing to the agency, Bitwise removed a “delaying amendment” from its S-1 prospectus for the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF. The fund could begin trading in a few as 20 days from the submission if the SEC doesn’t object.
“Looks like Bitwise is doing the 8(a) move for their spot Dogecoin ETF, which basically means they plan on going effective in 20 days barring an intervention,” Eric Balchunas wrote in an X post on Thursday.
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