Tax Alpha Insider
Subscribe Brent Sullivan About
Section 351 Exchanges

ETFs seeding in-kind raised ~$3bn in 2025

Happy New Year

Brent Sullivan· · 4 min read
Cartoon marking record-pace in-kind ETF seeding via SMA, tracking roughly $3 billion raised across 30 funds
This is the weird photo from the end of The Shining (Kubrick, 1980). Everyone thinks it’s a New Year’s Eve photo, but recall that the Overlook Hotel is closed in the winter! (Hence, the whole film.) The photo is labeled "July 4, 1921," but it was taken on February 14, 1921, at the Royal Palace Hotel in Kensington, London. I’m borrowing it here because nothing screams Happy New Year like a horror flick.

Tax Alpha Bulletin Board

ETFs seeding in-kind raised ~$3bn in 2025

This year is about storytelling.

So, let’s start with a big story, talk briefly about entrepreneurship, and end with taxable wealth memes.

I have a database of 30 ETFs seeded in-kind via SMA.

If this is the first you’re hearing of everyday folks seeding ETFs in-kind, let me tell you that it’s in-kind of a big deal. (groan)

If you like a new ETF, then seeding it with existing assets removes tax friction from the decision.

Here’s everything I’ve written about seeding ETFs in-kind over the past 18 months.

Here’s the book I self-published about it (sold out).

Let’s look at the data.