Is BLK's Absence in the XRP ETF Rush a Strategy or a Missed Prospect?

While most of the asset managers are pushing for spot and futures XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs), expanding their cryptocurrency presence, BlackRock Inc. BLK, the world’s largest asset manager, has indicated no intention to follow the market trend.

BlackRock, which manages $12.5 trillion in assets and has dominated the spot Bitcoin ETF market while quickly securing a lead in Ethereum ETFs, is now sitting out this trend, leaving market participants to wonder whether it’s a deliberate strategy or a missed opportunity.

BlackRock cemented its lead in Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs by targeting high-demand, low-risk products backed by deep liquidity, mature derivatives and strong institutional interest. On the other hand, despite XRP’s loyal global base and real-world payment use, major asset managers still don’t view it as a core holding like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Hence, BLK is not seeing much client-driven demand for XRP that would have prompted it to create a product for it.

Further, BlackRock requires complete confidence that the surrounding infrastructure, custody, pricing and market oversight are resilient to future regulatory whiplash. At their scale, even minor compliance errors could result in liabilities worth billions.

Additionally, the main objective of launching an ETF is to capture assets under management (AUM) and generate fee income. For Bitcoin, that upside was enormous. Ethereum’s opportunity was smaller but still meaningful. XRP, however, is harder to justify without counting on a surge of new demand. If that surge never comes, the result is a low-AUM product that requires operational resources and legal bandwidth for years. That’s a risk BlackRock doesn’t intend to take.

Thus, BLK remains cautious in its approach and might enter once there is higher client demand for XRP, regulatory clarity and balanced liquidity.

Stance of BlackRock’s Peers on XRP-Related Products

Franklin Templeton, a subsidiary of Franklin Resources, Inc. BEN, has been riding on the XRP ETF rally. In March, Franklin filed for XRP ETFs with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Recently, Franklin backed the State Bank of India’s move to launch XRP ETFs in Japan, indicating its optimism around the product.

On the other hand, Invesco IVZ has not filed for any related product launch, reflecting a similar cautious approach as BLK. Invesco recently reported its July AUM figures, which reflected 1.2% sequential growth. Invesco’s ETFs & Index Strategies AUM was $559 billion as of July 31, 2025.

BLK Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of BlackRock have gained 18.3% compared with the industry’s growth of 1.7% in the past six months.

From a valuation standpoint, BLK trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12X, above the industry.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BlackRock’s 2025 earnings indicates a year-over-year rise of 8.6%, while the same for 2026 earnings suggests 9.6% growth. Earnings estimates have been revised upward for 2025 over the past month, while the same declined for 2026.

BlackRock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).  You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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