Bitwise Prepares Major Altcoin ETF Expansion: 11 New Products Target AAVE, UNI, HYPE, and More

A Significant Shift in the Crypto ETF Landscape

The institutional adoption of digital assets is accelerating faster than ever. Following the SEC’s approval wave for altcoin ETFs throughout 2025, asset manager Bitwise is doubling down on this momentum with an ambitious plan to launch 11 additional U.S. spot crypto ETFs in the coming year. The move signals that traditional finance players are increasingly confident in the mainstream viability of alternative cryptocurrencies.

Bitwise’s latest SEC filings reveal a carefully calculated investment strategy: 60% of fund assets will be held directly in the underlying cryptocurrencies, while the remaining 40% will be allocated to derivatives and exchange-traded products. This structure allows the firm to optimize liquidity and compliance while maintaining meaningful exposure to each asset.

The Full Roster of Bitwise’s Targeted Cryptocurrencies

The 11 digital assets targeted by Bitwise’s new ETF applications paint an interesting picture of where institutional money sees opportunity:

DeFi Leaders and Layer-2 Solutions: Aave [AAVE] at $164.72, Uniswap [UNI] at $5.41, and staking protocol Starknet [STRK] at $0.08 represent core DeFi infrastructure plays.

High-Performance Layer-1 Networks: Near Protocol [NEAR] ($1.68) and emerging scaling solutions compete with established chains for developer and user adoption.

Decentralized Computing & AI: Bittensor [TAO] ($283.80) and Ethena [ENA] ($0.23) represent the emerging computational and infrastructure sectors gaining traction in crypto.

Privacy and Utilities: Zcash [ZEC] ($399.06) and TRON [TRX] ($0.30) round out the portfolio with privacy-focused and transaction-heavy alternatives.

Derivatives and Velocity: The inclusion of Hyperliquid [HYPE] ($24.40), a decentralized derivatives exchange, reflects growing institutional interest in on-chain trading infrastructure.

The 2025 Precedent: How Earlier Altcoin ETF Approvals Reshaped the Market

The regulatory environment shifted dramatically in 2025. The SEC greenlit ETF products for Solana [SOL] ($140.00), Ripple [XRP] ($2.05), Hedera [HBAR] ($0.12), Litecoin [LTC] ($78.26), Chainlink [LINK] ($13.25), and even the culturally significant Dogecoin meme asset. This represented a watershed moment: the barrier to entry for retail and institutional investors seeking altcoin exposure was effectively eliminated.

Bitcoin [BTC] ($90.91K) and Ethereum [ETH] demonstrated what ETF approval could do in the first half of 2025, both reaching all-time highs as capital flooded in through newly approved products. BTC surged past $126,000 while ETH approached the $5,000 milestone before the market correction reversed these gains.

The Paradox: Capital Inflows Without Price Appreciation

However, the narrative shifted with the second wave of ETF approvals. What many observers expected—a repeat of the BTC/ETH rally—simply hasn’t materialized for altcoins.

The evidence is striking:

XRP ETF Performance: With $1.16 billion in cumulative inflows as of December 30th, the Ripple-backed asset has remained range-bound below $2 despite substantial institutional buying pressure.

SOL ETF Reality Check: Solana’s spot ETF products have attracted $763 million in inflows since their October 2025 debut, with total net assets approaching $1 billion. Yet SOL’s price collapsed from $195 to its current $140 level over the same period—a 28% decline despite the massive capital influx.

The Broader Trend: Similar patterns emerged across LINK, LTC, and HBAR. All three experienced meaningful ETF inflows but saw their market prices stagnate or decline. Only the Dogecoin ETF failed to capture significant institutional capital, remaining an outlier in the approval wave.

This disconnect between institutional ETF demand and spot price movement represents one of crypto’s most puzzling phenomena in recent history.

Why ETF Inflows Don’t Guarantee Price Appreciation

Several factors explain this seemingly counterintuitive market behavior:

Portfolio Diversification: Institutions buying through ETFs aren’t necessarily betting on price appreciation. Many are allocating small percentages to altcoins as part of broader risk-adjusted portfolios. These are buy-and-hold positions, not momentum plays.

Derivatives Hedging: The 40% derivatives component in Bitwise’s structure suggests many institutional flows are immediately hedged through futures markets, negating spot price pressure.

Market Maturation: As ETFs democratize access, the days of explosive price rallies on regulatory approval events may be behind us. ETFs create a ceiling where retail FOMO once drove parabolic moves.

Supply Dynamics: Without token burns or reduced selling pressure, increased buyer demand simply stabilizes prices rather than pushing them higher.

What Bitwise’s Ambitious Play Means for 2026

Bitwise’s decision to file for 11 new altcoin ETFs suggests the firm believes this thesis: institutional adoption will continue accelerating, regulatory approval is now the path of least resistance, and ETF assets under management will become a major pricing mechanism for altcoins.

Analyst Chad Steingraber’s assessment captured the moment: “2026 is going to be the year of the crypto ETF. A whole new market has just opened up to crypto.”

Yet the data from 2025 suggests a more nuanced reality. ETFs are undoubtedly transforming crypto’s financial plumbing, but they’re a liquidity story first and a price acceleration story second. The investors buying through Bitwise’s forthcoming products should expect steady, stable exposure to altcoins—not the fireworks that characterized BTC and ETH’s earlier ETF approval cycles.

As the crypto industry matures, such rational price discovery may ultimately prove healthier than the alternative.