Canary Capital CEO Steven McClurg stated he expects BlackRock may enter the spot XRP ETF race as quickly as late 2026, framing it as a demand-led choice relatively than a sudden shift in conviction from the world’s largest asset supervisor.
Talking in a Jan. 27 interview with Crypto Sensei, McClurg argued that the market is already transferring in that course as extra legacy ETF issuers check the perimeter of non-Bitcoin merchandise.
BlackRock May Be part of XRP ETF Race By Finish Of 2026
“It wouldn’t shock me if BlackRock recordsdata for a XRP, probably Solana ETF someday by the top of 2026 or 2027,” he stated. “I imply you’ve already bought Constancy, you’ve already bought Franklin Templeton within the race there. So it’s not going to be an entire lot longer earlier than BlackRock. Aso […] Invesco simply filed for a Solana ETF. Give it time. XRP will likely be there as effectively.”
McClurg described the ETF playbook as easy: issuers observe shopper demand and liquid market construction, then broaden product cabinets as soon as the business case is evident. “I believe it has to do with a couple of capabilities. They wish to see demand. They wish to see excessive market cap and it’ll get there ultimately,” he stated, suggesting that XRP’s pathway to a BlackRock submitting is much less about narratives and extra about sustained investor pull.
That framework additionally matches how he says Canary thinks about filings. Requested how a lot product growth is pushed by shopper demand versus the agency’s personal views, McClurg was blunt: “It’s extremely weighted in the direction of the place we consider demand is.” He added that Canary will sometimes “take a few dangers” on earlier-stage tokens, citing Axelar as a submitting that was finally not launched amid weaker demand and drawdowns.
McClurg’s feedback got here with a wider thesis about the place institutional consideration is shifting. He stated many pension funds and sovereign wealth traders are approaching Bitcoin as an allocation akin to gold, however that conversations round Ethereum typically stall. “The dialog we’re having with Ethereum is that’s outdated know-how, I need what’s subsequent,” he stated, including that some establishments “simply go on Ethereum,” pointing to a view that open-source code will be replicated inside non-public networks.
Against this, he stated establishments are more and more centered on networks he described as “very low cost and environment friendly to run,” naming XRP Ledger, Hedera, and Solana, alongside “rivals to Solana” reminiscent of Injective. The core pitch, in his telling, is operational: decrease prices, increased throughput, and a clearer line from community utility to enterprise deployment.
On US financial institution adoption, McClurg predicted banks will associate with particular crypto protocols relatively than converge on a single rail, with Ripple “first,” Hedera “second,” and Solana “a far third” when it comes to being “dug into the monetary system.” He additionally singled out Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD as a possible breakout, saying, “I see that factor exploding” as soon as built-in with associate rails, and even floated that RLUSD “may surpass USDC.”
McClurg tied a lot of the timing, ETFs included, to regulatory readability. “I don’t actually care what’s within the invoice. I simply wish to know what I can and may’t do,” he stated, referring to the Readability Act debate. “And as soon as I do know what I can and may’t do, I can go generate profits […] simply inform me the foundations in order that I can exit and run my enterprise and never should look over my shoulder.”
At press time, XRP traded at $1.75.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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