Grayscale Investments has withdrawn registration statements for proposed Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot exchange-traded funds, ending the current filing process for all three products.
The asset manager submitted three Form RW requests to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7. The filings sought to withdraw the S-1 registration statements for the Grayscale Cardano Trust, Grayscale Hedera Trust and Grayscale Polkadot Trust.
The withdrawals were voluntary and do not represent SEC rejections. Grayscale said the registration statements never became effective and that no shares were issued or sold under the filings.
The move comes after the related exchange listing proposals for the three products had already been withdrawn. The Cardano listing proposal submitted by NYSE Arca was withdrawn in September 2025, while Nasdaq withdrew the Polkadot and Hedera proposals in November 2025.
Grayscale Withdraws Three Altcoin ETF Registrations
Grayscale used Rule 477 under the Securities Act of 1933 to withdraw the three registration statements. The Cardano filing covered registration statement No. 333-289948, while the Polkadot filing covered No. 333-289949. The Hedera request covered registration statement No. 333-290129.
Each filing used the same basic explanation for the withdrawal. Grayscale stated that “the Sponsor does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution of the Trust's shares registered by the Registration Statement.”
The filings also confirmed that the registrations had not become effective. Grayscale said “no securities have been or will be issued or sold” under the registration statements and that no preliminary prospectus had been distributed.
The withdrawal therefore stops the current registration process rather than ending the possibility of future filings. Grayscale could submit new registration documents for the products at a later date.
The three requests were accepted by the SEC within a 190-second period on August 7. The Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot withdrawals were processed between 4:33:37 p.m. and 4:36:47 p.m. Eastern Time.
Cardano ETF Had Already Lost Its Exchange Listing Route
The Cardano ETF withdrawal followed an earlier change involving the exchange listing process. NYSE Arca withdrew its proposed rule change for the Grayscale Cardano Trust on September 29, 2025.
A spot crypto ETF generally requires an effective Securities Act registration statement and an approved exchange listing route. The earlier withdrawal of the NYSE Arca proposal left the Cardano product without its original exchange filing.
The SEC later approved generic listing standards for qualifying commodity-based trust shares, including certain digital asset products. The change allowed eligible products to avoid a separate exchange rule change filing for every fund.
However, the generic listing framework did not remove the need for an effective registration statement. Grayscale's latest action therefore removes the S-1 registration layer for the Cardano product.
The same process applies to the Hedera and Polkadot funds. Nasdaq had withdrawn the corresponding listing proposals for both products in November 2025.
ADA, HBAR, and DOT Prices Move Lower
The withdrawals were followed by declines across the three associated tokens. Cardano's ADA traded around $0.196, while HBAR traded near $0.068 and Polkadot's DOT traded around $0.8065 based on the supplied market data.
At press time, ADA has declined more than 0.70% over the last 24 hours, trading at $0.1958. Concurrently, HBAR fell about 0.74% despite being bullish in the past7 days. In addition, DOT also declined close to 0.98%, to trade at $0.8065, which is still down 10% in the last 30 days.
The price movements occurred as traders assessed the removal of the three ETF registrations. The filings themselves do not state that the SEC rejected any of the products.
Grayscale Still Offers Cardano Exposure Through Other Funds
The withdrawal of the standalone Cardano ETF does not remove ADA from Grayscale's wider product range. Investors can still gain indirect Cardano exposure through diversified Grayscale products.
The Grayscale CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF, which trades under the ticker GDLC, holds ADA alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. The fund provides broader digital asset exposure rather than tracking Cardano alone.
Cardano is also included in the Grayscale Smart Contract Fund, which provides exposure to a basket of smart-contract platforms. The fund structure differs from a spot Cardano ETF because ADA represents only part of its overall portfolio.
Grayscale has also maintained other digital asset products at different stages of the U.S. regulatory process. Preliminary registrations for products linked to Bittensor, Aave, BNB, NEAR and Zcash remained in SEC records reviewed on August 10.
The company has also advanced other altcoin products. The SEC declared the Grayscale Avalanche Staking ETF registration effective in March and the Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF registration effective in June.
