Large institutional investors held more than half of all assets in U.S. spot Solana (SOL) exchange-traded funds by the end of 2024, with the 30 biggest holders accumulating over $540 million in positions during the fourth quarter, according to 13F filing data compiled by Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart.
What Happened: Institutional SOL ETF Accumulation
Seyffart published the data this week, drawing from 13F filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission in mid-February. The filings are required of any institution managing more than $100 million in assets.
Electric Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, held the largest position at close to $138 million. Goldman Sachs followed at $107.4 million, with Elequin Capital, SIG Holding and Multicoin Capital rounding out the top five.
Morgan Stanley and Citadel Advisors also appeared among the buyers. Investment advisors accounted for the largest share at more than $270 million, followed by hedge fund managers at $186.4 million, holding companies at nearly $60 million, brokerage firms at roughly $20 million and banks at $4.5 million.
The first U.S. spot Solana ETF began trading on Oct. 28 after Bitwise received SEC approval. Cumulative inflows across all U.S.-listed spot Solana ETFs have since exceeded $950 million, according to Farside Investors data, a figure covering retail and smaller institutions not captured in 13F filings.
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Why It Matters: Price Drop Tests Conviction
The Q4 institutional positions represented roughly 4.3 million SOL tokens, valued at about $124.95 each at year-end. By the time Seyffart shared his analysis, SOL had fallen to $86.50 — a decline of more than 30%.
Despite that drop, net flows into Solana ETFs have remained relatively steady in recent months. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted last week that the 50% institutional ownership figure points to a buyer base oriented toward longer-term positioning rather than short-term trading.
Updated filings for the first quarter of 2025 won't be available until mid-May, so how institutions responded to the price decline remains unclear for several more weeks.