Canary Capital CEO Steven McClurg said he expects BlackRock could enter the spot XRP ETF race as soon as late 2026, framing it as a demand-led decision rather than a sudden shift in conviction from the world’s largest asset manager.
BlackRock Could Join XRP ETF Race By End Of 2026“It wouldn’t surprise me if BlackRock files for a XRP, potentially Solana ETF sometime by the end of 2026 or 2027,” he said. “I mean you’ve already got Fidelity, you’ve already got Franklin Templeton in the race there. So it’s not going to be a whole lot longer before BlackRock. Aso […] Invesco just filed for a Solana ETF. Give it time. XRP will be there as well.”
McClurg described the ETF playbook as straightforward: issuers follow client demand and liquid market structure, then expand product shelves once the commercial case is clear. “I think it has to do with a few functions. They want to see demand. They want to see high market cap and it’ll get there eventually,” he said, suggesting that XRP’s pathway to a BlackRock filing is less about narratives and more about sustained investor pull.
That framework also matches how he says Canary thinks about filings. Asked how much product development is driven by client demand versus the firm’s own views, McClurg was blunt: “It’s highly weighted towards where we believe demand is.” He added that Canary will occasionally “take a couple of risks” on earlier-stage tokens, citing Axelar as a filing that was ultimately not launched amid weaker demand and drawdowns.
By contrast, he said institutions are increasingly focused on networks he described as “very cheap and efficient to run,” naming XRP Ledger, Hedera, and Solana, alongside “competitors to Solana” such as Injective. The core pitch, in his telling, is operational: lower costs, higher throughput, and a clearer line from network utility to enterprise deployment.
At press time, XRP traded at $1.75.
