#SOL The listing of the four major altcoin ETFs: a total inflow of 700 million USD, easy issuance but difficult to attract investment.
Despite the arrival of the four major altcoins—Solana, XRP, Litecoin, and Hedera—spot ETFs on Wall Street, these products have only attracted about $700 million in net inflows amid the overall downturn in the cryptocurrency market, with capital inflows clearly slowing down, and most experiencing zero inflows on a daily basis. Specifically:
Solana ETF: The total net inflow of five products is approximately $420 million, with Bitwise's BSOL contributing the majority of the flow, but inflow has significantly slowed after the first day; the price of SOL has dropped by about 31.34% since the ETF launch.
XRP ETF: The cumulative inflow of Canary's XRPC exceeds $270 million, with significant inflows driven by cash subscriptions the next day; XRP price fell by approximately 12.71%.
Litecoin ETF: LTCC has a cumulative net inflow of only $7.26 million, with zero inflows for several days; LTC price has dropped by about 7.4%.
Hedera ETF: HBR cumulative inflow of $74.71 million, accounting for nearly 60% in the first week, followed by a sharp decrease in inflows; HBAR price dropped by approximately 25.84%.
Current altcoin ETFs face multiple challenges: limited market size (altcoins account for less than 20%), low liquidity, high volatility, and are affected by market manipulation and regulatory risks. Although the regulatory environment is gradually becoming clearer and staking features may attract institutions, investors tend to prefer diversified allocations or traditional assets, making it difficult for altcoin ETFs to significantly boost the market in the short term.
Author: Nancy, PANews
With the U.S. SEC opening a fast track for crypto ETFs and the regulatory environment becoming clearer, more and more altcoins are attempting to step onto the Wall Street stage. Since last month, 8 altcoin ETFs have been approved one after another, but in the overall downturn of the crypto market, these products generally face limited capital inflow after their launch, making it difficult to significantly boost coin prices in the short term.
The four major altcoins have landed on Wall Street, but their short-term fundraising ability remains limited.
Currently, four cryptocurrency projects, Solana, Ripple, Litecoin, and Hedera, have received a "ticket to enter" from Wall Street. However, from the perspective of capital flow, overall attractiveness remains limited, and some ETFs have shown zero inflows for several days, with these four types of ETFs only receiving a cumulative net inflow of about $700 million. Additionally, after the launch of the ETFs, the prices of various cryptocurrencies generally declined, which is certainly influenced to some extent by the overall correction in the cryptocurrency market.
Solana
Currently, there are five Solana spot ETFs in the U.S. market, issued by Bitwise, VanEck, Fidelity, Grayscale, and Canary, with related products from 21Shares and CoinShares also on the way.
According to SoSoValue data statistics, the total net inflow of the US Solana spot ETF has accumulated to approximately $420 million, with a total asset net value of $594 million. Among them, Bitwise's BSOL contributed the main trading volume, with a cumulative capital inflow of $388 million over three consecutive weeks, but most of it came from an initial investment of nearly $230 million on the first day, after which the capital inflow slowed down significantly; Fidelity's FSOL had a net inflow of only $2.07 million on its listing day, November 18, with a total asset net value of $5.38 million; Grayscale's GSOL accumulated a net inflow of approximately $28.45 million, with a total asset net value of $99.97 million; Canary's SOLC had no net inflow on its listing day, with a total asset net value of $820,000. It is worth noting that the issuers of the spot ETFs all support staking functions, which may provide some support for market demand.
According to CoinGecko, since the launch of the first Solana spot ETF on October 28, the price of SOL has dropped by 31.34% so far.
XRP
In the United States, the only listed product for XRP spot ETF is XRPC launched by Canary, while related products from CoinShares, WisdomTree, Bitwise, and 21Shares are also in preparation.
According to SoSoValue data, since its launch, XRPC has accumulated a net inflow of over $270 million. The trading volume on the first day reached $59.22 million, but there was no net inflow; on the second day, a net inflow of $243 million was achieved through cash or physical subscription methods, with a trading volume of $26.72 million.
According to CoinGecko, since the launch of the first Ripple spot ETF on November 13, the price of XRP has decreased by about 12.71%.
LTC
At the end of October this year, Canary Capital officially launched the first ETF in the U.S. tracking Litecoin, LTCC. CoinShares and Grayscale's related products are still in preparation and are expected to follow suit.
According to SoSoValue data, as of November 18, LTCC has accumulated a net inflow of approximately $7.26 million. The daily net inflow is generally only several hundred thousand dollars, and there have been several days with zero inflow.
According to CoinGecko, since the first Litecoin spot ETF was launched on October 28, the price of LTC has fallen by about 7.4% to date.
HBAR
The first ETF tracking HBAR in the US, HBR, was launched by Canary Capital at the end of last month. According to SoSoValue data, as of November 18, HBR has accumulated a net inflow of approximately $74.71 million. Among them, nearly 60% of the funds were concentrated in the first week, after which the net inflow significantly decreased, with some days even experiencing consecutive days of zero inflow.
According to CoinGecko, since the launch of the first Hedera spot ETF on October 28, the price of HBAR has dropped by approximately 25.84%.
In addition to the above projects, the spot ETFs for crypto assets such as DOGE, ADA, INJ, AVAX, BONK, and LINK are still being advanced. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas expects Grayscale's Dogecoin ETF to be launched on November 24.
The expansion period of crypto ETFs has begun, but the listing performance still faces multiple challenges.
According to incomplete statistics from Bloomberg, there are currently 155 ETP ( exchange-traded products ) applications in the crypto market, covering 35 types of digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and LTC, showing a landing-style growth. With the end of the U.S. government shutdown, the approval process for these ETFs is expected to accelerate.
As the regulatory environment in the United States gradually becomes clearer, it may drive a new round of expansion for cryptocurrency ETF applications. The SEC has approved general listing standards for cryptocurrency ETFs and recently released new guidelines that allow issuers of cryptocurrency ETFs to expedite the effectiveness of their filing documents. At the same time, the SEC significantly removed the specialized section on cryptocurrencies that was commonly included in previous fiscal year review documents. This contrasts with the period under former chairman Gary Gensler, when cryptocurrencies were explicitly listed as a focus of scrutiny, particularly naming spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
Moreover, the introduction of the staking feature is believed to stimulate demand from institutional investors, thereby attracting more issuers to join the ETF application queue. Research from Swiss crypto bank Sygnum shows that despite a significant market correction recently, institutional investors' confidence in crypto assets remains strong. Over 80% of institutions express interest in crypto ETFs beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, with 70% stating that they would start or increase investments if the ETF could provide staking yields. There are also positive signals at the policy level regarding ETF staking; recently, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a new statement saying that he will work with the IRS to update guidance to provide regulatory support for cryptocurrency ETPs that include staking features. This initiative is believed to potentially accelerate the approval timeline for Ethereum staking ETPs while paving the way for multi-chain staking products from networks like Solana, Avalanche, and Cosmos.
However, the funding attractiveness of altcoin ETFs is currently insufficient, mainly affected by multiple factors such as market size, liquidity, volatility, and market sentiment.
On one hand, the market size and liquidity of altcoins are limited. According to CoinGecko data, as of November 18, Bitcoin's market share is close to 60%, and excluding ETH and stablecoins, other altcoins only account for 19.88% of the market. This results in poor liquidity for the underlying assets of altcoin ETFs. At the same time, compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum, altcoins are more susceptible to short-term narratives and exhibit higher volatility, being regarded as high-risk Beta assets. According to Glassnode data, since the beginning of this year, the relative profits of altcoins have mostly fallen into a deep capitulation zone, showing a significant divergence between Bitcoin and altcoins that is rarely seen in previous cycles. Therefore, it is difficult for altcoin ETFs to attract large-scale investments, especially single-token ETFs. In the future, investors may prefer to adopt a diversified, decentralized portfolio strategy for altcoin ETFs to reduce risk and enhance potential returns.
On the other hand, altcoins face risks of market manipulation and transparency. Many altcoins have insufficient liquidity, making them susceptible to price manipulation. The net asset value estimation of an ETF relies on the prices of underlying assets; if the prices of altcoins are manipulated, it will directly affect the value of the ETF, potentially leading to legal risks or regulatory investigations. Additionally, some altcoins may be classified as unregistered securities; the SEC is currently promoting a token classification plan to distinguish whether cryptocurrencies are classified as securities.
In addition, the uncertainty of the macroeconomic environment has intensified investors' risk aversion sentiment. In an environment of overall low confidence, investors tend to allocate traditional assets such as US stocks and gold. At the same time, altcoin ETFs lack the recognition and market acceptance of Bitcoin or Ethereum spot ETFs, especially the backing of large institutions like BlackRock. The distribution networks, brand effects, and market trust brought by leading issuers are difficult to replicate, which further weakens the attractiveness of altcoin ETFs in the current environment.