BlackRock still has no plans for an XRP ETF, and one analyst calls that a bearish signal
The world's largest asset manager keeps passing on XRP while seven rival spot XRP ETFs hold roughly $1.77 billion in assets
BlackRock, the asset manager overseeing roughly $15 trillion, still has no plans to launch a spot XRP ETF. The firm first said so in August 2025 and has held that position through late September 2026.
A recent Motley Fool analysis argues that BlackRock’s absence is reason enough to be bearish on the token for now.
What BlackRock has actually said
In August 2025, after Ripple’s long-running lawsuit with the SEC was resolved, the firm said it had no plans for either an XRP or a Solana ETF. The firm has kept its crypto ETF lineup focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum, two markets where it has launched products and now dominates in the US.
In September 2025, Robbie Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, laid out a five-factor framework the firm uses to evaluate new crypto ETFs. Those factors are client demand, market value, liquidity, maturity and portfolio fit. Mitchnick ranked client demand as the most important of the five.
By BlackRock’s own criteria, XRP does not currently clear the bar. The firm appears to view the token as falling short on market maturity, liquidity and fit within client portfolios.
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The XRP ETF market is moving on without it
Seven US issuers have already launched spot XRP ETFs. As of September 25, 2026, those funds collectively held around $1.77 billion in assets. That works out to approximately 1.18 billion XRP tokens, or about 1.9% of the token’s circulating supply.
The Ripple connection that isn’t an XRP connection
BlackRock accepts Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as collateral in BUIDL, its tokenized Treasury fund. RLUSD is a dollar-pegged stablecoin, designed to hold a steady value. XRP is a volatile crypto asset whose price moves with the market. Accepting the first as collateral says nothing about launching an ETF built on the second.
Why the Motley Fool analyst is bearish
BlackRock’s absence from the XRP space is reportedly contributing to a more cautious market outlook on the token compared with Bitcoin and Ethereum. If the largest asset manager on the planet keeps looking at XRP and deciding its clients don’t want it, that is a signal other institutions may notice.
What this means for XRP investors
The roughly $1.77 billion already sitting in rival XRP ETFs is a live experiment in whether the token can attract steady institutional flows without BlackRock’s brand attached. If those seven funds keep growing, it would feed directly into the client demand metric that Mitchnick says matters most to BlackRock.
The key data points to track are assets under management across the seven existing XRP ETFs, any change in BlackRock’s public language on the token, and whether the circulating supply share held by ETFs climbs meaningfully above its current 1.9%.