Exec: After Bitcoin,...

Exec: After Bitcoin, Ethereum and “Maybe” Solana, Investors See a Big Drop-Off

By José Oramas November 17, 2025 In Coinbase, Cryptocurrency

Business people with stock market chart financial trading, online investment, stock exchange analysis, market trends, real-time trading data, forex and crypto trading economic forecasting tool — Source:AdobeStock

Coinbase Asset Management President Anthony Bassili stated that institutional investors have a clear consensus on Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as the “core pair” for crypto portfolios.
Beyond that core pair, institutional consensus quickly breaks down, with Solana (SOL) “maybe” emerging as the third candidate, leaving a large gap for the “fourth slot.”
For XRP, Bassili noted that while Ripple has executed well on strategy, investors require seeing higher “network velocity” and deeper integration into global liquidity before treating it as a core asset.

Anthony Bassili, president of Coinbase Asset Management, has claimed most institutional and high-net-worth investors remain undecided on which cryptos deserve a place in portfolios, beyond Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

Speaking at The Bridge conference in New York City, Bassili told Cointelegraph there is now a “very, very clear view” that Bitcoin is the starting point for a crypto allocation, followed by Bitcoin and Ethereum together as a core pair. Beyond that, consensus quickly breaks down.

Solana, he noted, is “maybe” emerging as the next candidate, but he described a sharp drop-off in investor confidence beyond that point, with a large gap between Solana and the rest of the market. The notional “fourth slot,” he said, remains open and will go to whichever network or application can prove durable product-market fit and sustained activity.

On XRP, Bassili said Ripple has executed well on strategy, citing its acquisitions of a custodian (Palisade), a stablecoin orchestration layer (Rail), and a broker-dealer (Hidden Road, now Ripple Prime).

Still, he argued that investors want to see higher “network velocity” and deeper integration into global liquidity before treating XRP as a core asset.

XRP and Solana Next In Investors’ Portfolios?

Bassili has recognised that progress has been made for other high-profile crypto assets. Crypto News Australia reported that Canary Capital’s XRP ETF recorded about US$58 million (AU$87 million) in first-day volume, the strongest ETF launch of 2025, according to Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas, so far across both digital-asset and traditional products.

Moreover, only four Solana spot ETFs have been approved, with the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) leading with US$470 million (AU$720 million) in assets under management (AUM), according to The Block data.

There are over 10 submissions pending, from issuers like CoinShares, Grayscale, Canary, and VanEck, waiting to be reviewed by the SEC.

The reason for the delay is due to the US government shutdown. It lasted for over 40 days, and was lifted last week after president Donald Trump signed a stopgap funding bill that lifted the shutdown and restored normal operations across federal agencies.