Institutional traders flock to Solana as demand for ETH and BTC flattens

Institutions were betting big on Solana investment products last week, with SOL-tracking products attracting 86.6% of institutional inflows to digital asset products last week. Institutional traders have flocked to Solana (SOL) as demand for Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) exposure has flattened, with SOL investment products representing a whopping 86.6% of total weekly inflows to crypto investment products last week. According to Tuesday’s issue of CoinShares’ “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly,” SOL investment products saw inflows of $49.4 million between Sept. 6 and Friday. The combined total inflows for crypto investment products equated to $57 million for the week, with SOL seeing a 275% week-over-week increase to represent 86.6% of total inflow.

The surging inflows to Solana products coincided with the price of SOL gaining 36% over the same period. The report concluded: “A combination of price appreciation and inflows now brings Solana’s assets under management to $97 million, the 5th largest of all investment products.”

Digital asset products have now seen inflows for the fourth consecutive week, with demand for altcoins significantly outweighing the appetite for BTC products, which saw minimal inflows of $200,000. The inflows were also partially offset by institutional investors offloading $6.3 million worth Ether exposure as the underlying asset’s price dropped 10% during the week.

Despite Cardano’s highly anticipated introduction of smart contracts on Monday, institutional flows into Cardano’s ADA-tracking products saw a 46% decrease compared to the previous week. Multi-asset products, XRP, Polkadot’s DOT and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) also saw inflows of $3.2 million, $3.1 million, $1.7 million and $600,000, respectively.

According to CoinShares’ estimates, institutional asset managers currently represent total assets under management (AUM) of $56.3 billion — marking a decrease of 9% compared to the week before, as the broader crypto markets experienced a pullback across the board.

Flows were mixed between asset managers, with CoinShares XBT and Purpose funds shedding $24.7 million and $45.5 million, respectively, while 21Shares, ETC Group and CoinShares saw inflows of $75 million, $13 million and $6.1 million, respectively. Top institutional manager Grayscale remained dominant, representing 74% of sectors AUM with $41.8 billion. Grayscale announced a partnership with alternative asset fintech provider iCapital Network on Monday. The deal will enable iCapital’s advisors to offer the firm’s high-net-worth clients access to Grayscales’ digital asset services via a diversified market-cap-weighted investment strategy.