Solana crypto funds outpace Bitcoin on quarterly growth

Solana’s exchange-traded funds attracted less money than Bitcoin products in the third quarter of 2026, but their smaller starting base produced a much faster rate of growth. The contrast offers two different ways to judge investor demand in the expanding U.S. spot crypto ETF market.

SoSoValue data cited by 24/7 Wall St. shows that U.S. spot crypto ETFs received $10.2 billion in net new investment during the quarter. Bitcoin funds accounted for $6.3 billion of that total, confirming their position as the main route for investors seeking exposure to digital assets through a regulated fund structure.

Solana funds collected $480 million. That figure was modest beside Bitcoin’s haul, yet Solana recorded the largest increase in cumulative inflows among the major crypto fund categories. Its lifetime inflows rose from $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion, a 42% increase.

The results raise a basic question about what “investor preference” means: is it the largest amount of new capital, or the strongest acceleration relative to the money already invested?

Bitcoin remains the dominant fund market

Measured in dollars, Bitcoin was the clear leader. Its ETF group had roughly $108 billion in assets at the end of the quarter, giving it a much larger platform than the funds focused on other cryptocurrencies. That scale makes it easier for Bitcoin products to attract more new money in absolute terms, particularly because they are the established default for many investors and brokers.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, known as IBIT, is the flagship example in the Bitcoin category. The fund sits within a market that has accumulated close to $51 billion in lifetime inflows, according to the figures reported by 24/7 Wall St.

Bitcoin’s $6.3 billion quarterly addition represented a 12% increase in its cumulative inflows. The percentage was smaller than the gains recorded by every other major fund group discussed in the report, but the underlying dollar amount was substantially larger.

Ethereum funds occupied the second position on both measures. They received $3.1 billion during the quarter and grew their lifetime inflows by 28%. The Ethereum group ended the period with $17.6 billion in assets, more than the combined totals of the Solana and XRP groups. BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF, or ETHA, is among the leading products in that category.

Smaller bases magnify Solana’s gains

Solana’s performance looks different once fund size is taken into account. Its group held about $1.9 billion in assets at the end of the quarter, so a $480 million inflow created a much larger percentage change than a comparable addition would have produced for Bitcoin.

The Solana total represented an inflow equal to 25% of the group’s assets. Its 42% rise in lifetime deposits was also well ahead of Ethereum’s 28%, XRP’s 21% and Bitcoin’s 12%.

XRP provides a useful comparison because its fund group was close to Solana in size. XRP funds held about $1.7 billion in assets, but drew only $308 million during the quarter. That left them behind Solana in both the amount of new money and the rate of expansion.

The comparison does not mean that Solana funds have overtaken Bitcoin in popularity overall. Bitcoin’s much larger asset base and greater cumulative inflows show that it remains the market’s principal crypto ETF exposure. Instead, the figures indicate that new money was entering Solana products more quickly relative to their existing scale.

The growth calculations are based on deposits rather than changes in the prices of the underlying cryptocurrencies. That distinction matters: a fund group’s percentage increase reflects the money investors added, not gains or losses caused by market movements.

What the next quarter could show

Solana funds enter the fourth quarter with lifetime inflows of $1.6 billion. Repeating their 42% quarterly increase would require approximately $680 million in additional deposits, a larger sum than the $480 million they attracted in the third quarter.

That makes the next quarter’s result a useful test of whether Solana’s momentum is continuing or whether the latest percentage gain was mainly the effect of starting from a small base. If its funds draw more than $480 million again, the result would strengthen the case that demand for Solana exposure is building.

For now, the data supports two conclusions. Bitcoin remains the leader when the market is measured by total capital raised, while Solana stands out when the focus shifts to the speed of growth. As reported by 24/7 Wall St., the answer to which crypto ETF investors favor depends largely on which of those measures is given priority.