Institutional traders could flip their consideration to altcoins as the subsequent wave of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) arrives in america, in accordance with market analysts.
The US Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) acquired not less than 5 new altcoin ETF filings in the course of the first half of October, regardless of the continuing US authorities shutdown stalling progress.
Every approval may “open the door for the subsequent wave of institutional shopping for,” stated Leon Waidmann, head of analysis at Web3 analytics agency Onchain.
“Altcoin ETF inflows are the inevitable subsequent step after Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs proved institutional demand,” Waidmann advised Cointelegraph. “That is regulatory confidence translating into capital flows.”
Ether ETFs surpass Bitcoin ETF inflows in Q3
Spot Ether (ETH) ETFs attracted $ 9.6 billion in inflows in the course of the third quarter of 2025, surpassing the $8.7 billion generated by spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF inflows, in accordance with information aggregator SosoValue.
That shift alerts growing institutional demand for various crypto publicity.
The development might even see the altcoin ETFs catalyzing the subsequent wave of institutional altcoin adoption as new regulated autos, leading to years of sustained inflows, Waidmann stated.
“Establishments discovered Bitcoin through ETFs, now they’re shifting into Ethereum, and different altcoins are coming subsequent.”
The business’s most profitable merchants, tracked as “sensible cash” merchants on Nansen’s blockchain intelligence platform, are additionally positioning themselves for the approval of altcoin ETFs.
The Uniswap (UNI), Aave (AAVE) and Chainlink (LINK) have been the three most held tokens by sensible cash merchants on Thursday, information from Nansen exhibits.
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Nonetheless, some analysts are involved that BlackRock’s absence from the altcoin ETFs will lead to restricted total inflows, as BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF has amassed $28.1 billion in investments thus far in 2025, making it the one fund to log optimistic year-to-date (YTD) inflows.
With out BlackRock’s fund, the spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a cumulative web outflow of $1.27 billion year-to-date, in accordance with K33’s head of analysis, Vetle Lunde.
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Based mostly on the dynamics seen in Bitcoin ETF investments, BlackRock’s absence from the altcoin ETF wave could restrict cumulative inflows and their potential tailwind impact on the underlying tokens, the researcher defined.
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