Goldman Sachs has fully exited its XRP and Solana ETF positions and cut its Ethereum ETF holdings by 70% during the first quarter of 2026, according to the bank's most recent 13F filing reported by WuBlockchain on May 18, 2026. The pullback covers all three altcoin product lines the bank had disclosed in prior quarters and lands during one of the weakest stretches for spot crypto ETFs since approval.
Crypto prices are reflecting the broader institutional caution. At the time of writing, BTC trades near $76,795, down 2.1% on the day and 5.3% on the week. ETH sits at $2,114, off 3.7% in 24 hours and 9.4% on the week. SOL is at $84.31, down 11.7% over seven days. XRP trades at $1.38, also down roughly 5% on the week. CoinMarketCap's Fear and Greed reading is 38, well inside Fear territory.
A clean exit from XRP and Solana
The most striking line in the filing is the full liquidation of Goldman's XRP and Solana ETF positions. Both were small relative to the bank's BTC and ETH exposure when first disclosed, but they were closely watched as a directional signal that a top-tier US bank was willing to hold non-BTC, non-ETH altcoin ETF wrappers on the balance sheet. Goldman taking those positions to zero is a directional reversal, not just a rebalance.
The XRP and Solana ETF complexes are also among the newest in the US market. Both saw inflows last week even as Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs bled, which made the Goldman exit easy to miss in the headline flow data. Reading those numbers next to the 13F changes the story: retail and smaller institutional flows are still trickling in, but at least one of the largest US banks is moving the other direction.
ETH cut by 70%, not closed
Unlike XRP and Solana, the Ethereum ETF position survived the quarter, just at a fraction of its prior size. A 70% cut still leaves Goldman with disclosed ETH ETF exposure, which matters for two reasons. First, it suggests the desk is not closing the strategy outright. Second, it leaves room for the position to be rebuilt cheaply if ETH stabilizes near current levels. ETH is down roughly 9% on the week and has retraced sharply from its 2026 highs, so the timing of the cut may explain part of the size.
The move also fits a wider pattern. Harvard Management Company exited its entire spot ETH ETF position in the same reporting period and trimmed its IBIT stake by 2.3 million shares. US spot Bitcoin ETFs just shed roughly $1B in a single week on inflation concerns. The 13F deadline pushed all of these disclosures into the same news cycle, which is part of why the pullback feels concentrated.
Not every institution is selling
Goldman's exit is not the whole picture. Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, lifted its IBIT stake to $660M in the same quarter, and ETF flow data shows SOL and XRP products still pulled inflows last week. The picture is mixed: a major US investment bank trimming sharply while a Gulf sovereign wealth fund adds size, with retail-oriented altcoin ETF wrappers still in net positive flow.
For readers tracking institutional positioning, the 13F is a snapshot dated March 31, 2026, not a live position. Goldman may have rebuilt or further cut since then. The disclosure is most useful as a directional read: at the end of Q1, the bank wanted less crypto ETF exposure, not more, and was willing to fully retire its smaller altcoin lines to get there.
Implications for the rest of the year
Two things to watch from here. The next 13F filings, due in August, will show whether the cut was a one-quarter call or the start of a sustained reduction. And the altcoin ETF complex now has a clean test: with one of the largest US banks out of XRP and Solana ETFs entirely, can retail and crypto-native institutional demand keep those products growing through the rest of 2026?
Overview
Goldman Sachs sold all of its XRP and Solana ETF holdings in Q1 2026 and cut its Ethereum ETF position by 70%, per the bank's latest 13F filing. The disclosure landed during a week of broad crypto weakness, with BTC at $76,795, ETH at $2,114, and the Fear and Greed index at 38. Other institutions, including Mubadala, moved the other way over the same period, leaving the institutional positioning picture mixed rather than uniformly bearish.
