Bitwise CEO Drops Crucial XRP Reality Check as Solana Fund Crosses $1 Billion Threshold

The XRP ETF market is growing steadily, but it has yet to enter the “big league” of billion-dollar crypto funds. The discussion around the actual figures was triggered by a major Solana milestone: This week, Bitwise’s Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) officially reached $1 billion in AUM exactly 10 months after its launch.

Capital flowed into the product largely because of its built-in annual yield of around 5.8%, generated through staking directly within the regulated ETF.

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Commenting on the achievement on X, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley noted that only Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana ETFs have crossed the $1 billion mark so far. When someone in the comments suggested that this statistic looked biased against XRP, Horsley responded directly: “I’m not! There’s no $1B XRP ETF yet!”

Why Solana succeeded while XRP has not

This remark exposed a fundamental technological barrier for XRP. Unlike Solana, the XRP Ledger has no native staking at all. All XRP tokens were issued upfront, and the blockchain simply cannot generate new tokens to pay staking rewards.

The only future alternative for funds could be the native XRPL Lending Protocol, which is currently undergoing a validator vote. For now, however, the XRP ETF sector is forced to rely exclusively on pure spot demand.

Investor demand is undeniably strong. U.S. spot XRP ETFs have collectively accumulated an impressive $1.44 billion in net assets, with cumulative inflows reaching $1.66 billion, according to SoSoValue. In terms of total capital, the XRP sector is already operating at the level of the market leaders.

However, because these products offer no yield, no individual fund has managed to reach the $1 billion mark.

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Horsley’s own fund leads the segment. The Bitwise XRP ETF controls 44% of the market, with $632.03 million in assets. Its closest competitors follow behind: Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ holds $411.39 million, while Canary’s WAXRP has $234.36 million. The remaining share is divided among products from 21Shares and Grayscale.

With the latest Form 13F filings confirming an influx of U.S. institutional investors into crypto ETFs, Bitwise’s standalone XRP fund needs to attract approximately another $368 million in net assets to reach the coveted $1 billion threshold.

Solana’s experience has shown that pure spot exposure trails staking-backed products in terms of growth speed. XRP’s ability to cross the billion-dollar mark will therefore depend entirely on the appetite of long-term investors.