According to U.Today, BlackRock's Chief Information Officer, Samara Cohen, recently stated in an interview with Bloomberg that the financial giant has no immediate plans to launch a Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF). Cohen emphasized that the company evaluates the investability of assets to determine their suitability for an ETF, and currently, only Bitcoin and Ether meet their criteria based on both investability considerations and client demand. She noted that it would be some time before BlackRock considers introducing ETFs for other altcoins.
This announcement comes amid recent filings by New York-based financial giant VanEck and crypto-native firm 21Shares to launch Solana-based ETFs. However, industry experts remain skeptical about the approval of such products in 2024. Earlier this year, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse predicted the launch of multiple altcoin ETFs in the U.S., but the regulatory landscape remains uncertain.
Solana (SOL) has recently gained significant traction, surpassing Binance's native BNB token by market capitalization to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. The growing prominence of Solana, often referred to as an “Ethereum killer,” highlights its increasing market dominance. Despite this, financial giants like BlackRock remain cautious about introducing Solana-based ETFs.
BlackRock has seen considerable success with its Bitcoin ETF, which debuted in January and contributed to a surge in BTC prices to record highs by March. The company's Ether ETF, launched earlier this month, has not generated the same level of enthusiasm, although Cohen described its launch as strong, with $87 million worth of inflows on July 26.
