Analysts are flagging Solana's current drawdown and undervaluation relative to Ethereum, with 21Shares’ Solana ETF product discussed as part of that positioning debate. The conversation took on fresh relevance after US spot Solana exchange-traded funds recorded $8.8 million in net inflows on 10 August, the strongest single-day total since 12 May, according to Santiment and SoSoValue flow data.
The turnaround followed five consecutive sessions of zero net flows ending 4 August and an $18.1 million outflow from Bitwise's BSOL on 28 July. Bitwise absorbed nearly all of the session's capital, with BSOL taking in roughly $8.83 million. That pushed cumulative net inflows across all six US Solana ETFs past $1.15 billion since their 28 October 2025 launch. Total net assets across the complex stood at about $906 million. Other products—VSOL, FSOL, TSOL, SOEZ, and GSOL—recorded negligible or zero flows, underscoring how narrow the current bid remains.
The broader ETF complex provided sharp contrast. On 6 August, spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $128.69 million and Ethereum ETFs drew $92.15 million, while XRP products added just $3.45 million. Solana funds posted $859,450 in outflows that session, making the 10 August figure a reversal rather than a continuation of an established trend. XRP ETF inflows then collapsed to $1.01 million for the week ending 8 August, a 93% decline from the prior week’s $14.86 million.
Separately, Grayscale withdrew its S-1 registration statements for proposed Cardano, Hedera, and Polkadot ETFs on 7 August, filing three Form RW submissions within 190 seconds. The Cardano withdrawal came two days before ADA completed its six-month CME futures seasoning period on 9 August, a threshold that would have made the token eligible for streamlined spot ETF review. Bitwise and Canary Capital still have active Cardano filings, but Grayscale’s exit removes the highest-profile standalone ADA proposal from the US pipeline.
Infrastructure progress may explain why capital returned to Solana products specifically. The Alpenglow consensus upgrade, described by Anza as Solana’s biggest upgrade, is rolling out in phases between August and October 2026. It replaces both Proof of History and TowerBFT, targeting a cut in transaction finality from about 12.8 seconds to 100–150 milliseconds. Validators approved the upgrade with roughly 98% of participating stakeholders voting in favour. Stablecoin supply on Solana also reached approximately $16.7 billion as of 10 August, an 11-fold increase over three years and third among blockchains behind Ethereum and Tron. The Agave v4.2 client upgrade is targeting mainnet feature activation the week of 17 August, laying groundwork for the broader Alpenglow rollout.
Whether the 10 August inflow marks a durable turning point remains uncertain, but the fact that it landed in Solana rather than rival altcoin products signals where institutional allocators currently see utility-driven upside.
