Solana-ETF: Institutional interest exploded with 70-fold inflows, but the market does not believe it
Spot exchange-traded funds on Solana (SOL) have shown an impressive surge in activity: during the trading week from August 10 to 14, capital inflows reached $10.26 million. This is almost 70 times higher than the previous week's figure, when funds received only about $144,930.
This result is the best since late May, but behind these numbers lies an extremely telling structure. The entire inflow was driven by just two funds, and only during two trading sessions. This is not a broad institutional trend, but rather targeted injections from specific players.
Bitwise and Morgan Stanley — the week's main drivers
The Bitwise Solana ETF (BSOL) fund attracted $8.8 million on August 10 — the largest daily inflow for the product since May 12. The remaining $1.43 million was provided by Morgan Stanley's Solana Trust (MSOL) the following day. Other issuers — VanEck, Fidelity, 21Shares, Franklin Templeton, and Grayscale — showed no single day of net inflows during the reporting period.
Despite a seven-week streak of positive flows, which collectively attracted $28.05 million, the total assets of all Solana ETFs by the end of the week stood at $893.5 million. Since launch, total inflows have reached $1.16 billion. However, the SOL price has barely reacted during this time: the token fell by 1.18%, trading around $75.51.
Moreover, trading activity shows the opposite trend. The total weekly trading volume in Solana ETFs dropped to $159.7 million, compared to $167.3 million the previous week. This indicates that trader interest remains subdued, despite the formal growth in net inflows.
Contrast with the Bitcoin and Ethereum markets
Against this backdrop, Bitcoin funds experienced outflows: $389.7 million after an inflow of $853.5 million the previous week. Weekly turnover in Bitcoin funds fell to $6.94 billion — the lowest since September 2024. Ethereum products ended the week almost unchanged: investors withdrew only $2.26 million after an inflow of $244.9 million the week before.
Smaller altcoins held up more confidently: XRP ETFs posted a fifth consecutive week of inflows with $2.25 million, while products on Hyperliquid (HYPE) received $2.74 million. The sustainability of Solana flows will largely depend on the Agave v4.2 update, whose mainnet launch is expected during the week of August 17.
My view: The current inflow is more a signal of targeted interest from large institutions than of mass adoption. Growth without a price reaction and declining volumes indicate that the market is not yet ready to factor these flows into SOL's valuation. The key catalyst could be the technical network upgrade itself, rather than capital movement into ETFs.