The long-awaited approval of altcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may not bring the massive inflows investors expect without participation from asset management giant BlackRock, according to market data.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF received $28.1 billion in investments in 2025, as the only fund with positive year-to-date (YTD) inflows, pushing total spot Bitcoin ETF inflows to a cumulative $26.9 billion.
Without BlackRock’s fund, the spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a cumulative net outflow of $1.27 billion year-to-date, according to K33’s head of research, Vetle Lunde.
The inflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs were the primary driver of Bitcoin (BTC) price momentum in 2025, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, told Cointelegraph recently.
BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management firm, with $13.5 trillion in assets under management as of the third quarter of 2025.
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BlackRock’s absence may burst the bubble at altcoin ETF party
Based on the dynamic seen in Bitcoin ETF investments, BlackRock’s absence from the altcoin ETF wave may limit the total inflows and their potential upside impact on the underlying cryptocurrencies, according to Lunde.
“No BlackRock, no party,” Lunde wrote on X. “BlackRock is absent from the imminent altcoin ETF wave. Opportunity for competitors to secure strong flows, but on net, likely limiting for overall flows.”
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Despite the lack of involvement from the world’s largest asset manager, some analysts remain optimistic about the next generation of ETFs.
Notably, the first Solana (SOL) staking ETF may attract as much as $6 billion of capital within the first year, Bitget exchange’s chief analyst, Ryan Lee, told Cointelegraph.
Multinational investment bank JPMorgan also predicted that a Solana ETF would attract $3 billion to $6 billion and an XRP ETF would garner $4 billion to $8 billion in new investments, based on the adoption rate of Bitcoin and Ether ETFs.
Bitcoin ETFs had a 6% adoption rate and Ether ETFs about 3% during their first six months, meaning Bitcoin ETFs attracted roughly 6% of BTC’s total market capitalization in that period.
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