In 2025, the push to get crypto-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed is really starting to take off, with better than 70 of these vehicles now filed.
They are awaiting word from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as to whether they can go ahead and list or not. In the view of some, this is another stage in the multi-part saga of Bitcoin’s price expression potential getting shared with the rest of the crypto market.
There are now 72 crypto-related ETFs sitting with the SEC awaiting approval to list or list options. Everything from XRP, Litecoin and Solana to Penguins, Doge and 2x Melania and everything in between. Gonna be a wild year. Great roundup from @JSeyff pic.twitter.com/IHTqqxeH35
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 21, 2025
As the cryptocurrency market has matured and investor appetites diversified, asset managers have sought to bring products linked to alternative cryptocurrencies—like XRP, Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC), and even Dogecoin—to the mainstream markets. The push to productize these altcoins has followed the success of the spot Bitcoin ETFs that launched earlier this year and quickly became one of the most popular crypto-based investment vehicles. Altcoin ETFs too have enjoyed a first-mover advantage.
Contents
Solana and XRP Lead the Next Wave of ETF Ambitions
There is a wide range of digital assets presented in the latest filings for exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Among them, however, Solana and XRP stand out as garnering the most institutional interest. As a recent Bloomberg report noted, at least six different entities have filed to offer spot Solana ETFs, while no less than 10 different institutional entities have filed to offer spot ETFs that are linked to XRP. Balchunas said these figures represent intense interest in altcoins that occupy a market cap much smaller than Bitcoin and Ether.
Investor interest in XRP and Solana has increased in 2024 and early 2025, owing to an expanding ecosystem and a clearer regulatory picture. XRP has vaulted back into the conversation and may be reaching its all-time high due to the Ripple-SEC case having reached a clear legal conclusion. Meanwhile, Solana has developers and users flooding to its blockchain to build decentralized infrastructure and applications. People seem to love it.
Still, even with all the growing excitement over altcoin Bitcoin remains firmly the dominant force in the crypto ETF space.
Bitcoin ETFs Still Dominate Crypto Fund Landscape
Despite the frantic pace of new filings and a seemingly limitless well of product innovations to draw from, Eric Balchunas still sees Bitcoin ETFs as commanding around 90% of all crypto fund assets in the world right now. Even with dozens of altcoin and meme-coin ETF applications now awaiting review, and a big push by many of these to try to transform themselves into a profit-making endeavor, Balchunas still sees the impact of these market entrants as being rather slight.
No Second Best? Bitcoin ETFs command 90% of all the crypto fund assets globally. While a TON of alt/meme coin ETFs are likely going to hit market this year, they will only make minor dent, bitcoin likely to retain at least 80-85% share long-term via @JSeyff pic.twitter.com/ym46sDFM8C
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 21, 2025
Even if a ton of new crypto ETFs launch this year, most will likely struggle to capture significant market share. Balchunas noted this and remarked that “Bitcoin is still the king when it comes to investor confidence, institutional inflows, and long-term interest.”
His perspective is shared by another analyst from Bloomberg named James Seyffart, who also perceives the cryptocurrency ETF marketplace as one that will be dominated by Bitcoin for the foreseeable future. Seyffart believes that Bitcoin will hold onto 80 to 85 percent of the ETF marketplace long-term. He sees the reason for this continued dominance not only as being because of Bitcoin’s brand recognition and first-mover advantage but also because he views it as by far the most secure and regulation-friendly asset in the cryptocurrency space.
New Wave of ETFs Includes Derivatives and Meme Coins
ETFs are being filed for many cryptocurrencies, not just the influential ones like Bitcoin or Ethereum. While XRP and Solana are leading the serious interest in altcoin ETFs, there are also a number of applications targeting much more speculative and much more niche areas of the crypto market. ETF filings for crypto derivatives, for instance, are under review at the SEC, as are many probabilistic meme coins – Dogecoin chief among them.
It is anticipated that these products will be aimed primarily at retail investors and traders with a very high risk tolerance, rather than at institutional players. But if approved, their very existence could contribute to the normalization of crypto exposure in traditional finance, and especially if tradable securities don’t have a huge market share in comparison to Bitcoin funds.
A Critical Year Ahead for Crypto ETFs
The rush of ETF filings represents a critical point where cryptocurrency meets traditional finance. Success for a Bitcoin ETF is no longer in question—it now satisfies the standard for an approved financial product. The same, however, cannot be said for a slew of altcoin ETFs, which are currently treading a path very much like the one Bitcoin took in its not-so-distant past. Will regulators allow cash to flow into these vehicle pools? If scrutiny doesn’t become too intense, it instead orients regulators toward altcoins that need more time to prove themselves, and this in no way guarantees that the same fate for an Ether ETF won’t come up for review in six months. Should these upcoming tests not return any results to write home about, will the tide of filings recede into the cryptocurrency sphere?
The decisions the SEC makes on these pending applications will influence both the immediate trajectory of markets for cryptocurrency funds and the longer-term place that digital assets will have in diversified investment portfolios.
In the year 2025, all eyes will be on the crypto space—investor eyes, analyst eyes, and fund manager eyes. They will all be watching to see which coins take the leap from the blockchain to the boardroom and which ones remain on the sidelines.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
Follow us on Twitter @nulltxnews to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, Distributed Computing, and Metaverse news!
