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This year, I published a wide range of research notes across the ETF landscape, but reader interest consistently focused around a few big themes: crypto ETFs, global defense ETFs, and commodities ETFs. These areas of the ETF market not only drew meaningful year-to-date inflows. They also captured some of the most discussed — and in some cases, the fastest-moving — segments of the ETF universe. Below are my most-read notes of the year, along with a quick recap of each theme.
Crypto ETFs: Product Innovation Explosion
Despite some end of year outflows, crypto ETFs had a strong year. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) remains the ETF with the fifth highest year-to-date net inflows (out of a universe of over 4,800 ETFs). Even as macro uncertainty and lower sentiment weighed on prices, issuers pushed beyond Bitcoin with a wave of new ETFs (including altcoins). Over 75 new crypto ETFs launched this year. In response, investors have been piling in to certain crypto ETFs like Solana and XRP despite falling prices. The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) has drawn over $800 million in net inflows since its late October launch, despite prices falling over 35% since inception.
At the same time, the next leg of adoption quietly started to take shape through crypto index ETFs: multi-token, diversified approaches, typically anchored by a heavy bitcoin weight. Flows into these diversified products have been modest so far, but the logic is straightforward. Once the field of crypto ETFs becomes too crowded for easy comparison, more investors may gravitate toward simple, diversified exposures, accepting that baskets can lag bitcoin in down markets but offer an easier way to own the broader large-cap crypto market in one allocation.
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