BlackRock’s absence weighs on XRP ETF prospects

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with $15 trillion under management, has reiterated its stance against launching a spot XRP ETF. The firm first announced this decision in August 2025 and maintained it through late September 2026. A recent analysis by Motley Fool suggests that BlackRock’s reluctance is a bearish signal for the token’s near-term prospects.

The firm’s reluctance stems from its five-factor evaluation framework for crypto ETFs, outlined by Robbie Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, in September 2025. The criteria include client demand, market value, liquidity, maturity, and portfolio fit. According to BlackRock, XRP falls short in market maturity, liquidity, and portfolio fit, with client demand being the most critical factor.

Despite BlackRock’s absence, seven US issuers have already launched spot XRP ETFs, collectively holding around $1.77 billion in assets as of September 25, 2026. This translates to approximately 1.18 billion XRP tokens, or about 1.9% of the token’s circulating supply. While BlackRock accepts Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as collateral in its tokenized Treasury fund, this does not indicate any plans for an XRP ETF.

The market’s cautious outlook on XRP is further influenced by BlackRock’s position. The firm’s decision may signal to other institutions that XRP lacks sufficient appeal compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum. The growth of existing XRP ETFs will be a key indicator of whether the token can attract institutional interest without BlackRock’s involvement.