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Grayscale ends three ETF bids
Grayscale Investments withdrew registration statements for proposed altcoin ETFs tied to Cardano’s ADA, Polkadot’s DOT, and Hedera’s HBAR, telling the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it “does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution” of shares for each trust.
“does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution”
CoinDesk said the withdrawals were sponsor-initiated and that none became effective, with Grayscale stating “None became effective, and no securities were issued or sold.”
CoinDesk reported the Cardano ETF proposal came in February 2025, with Grayscale filing the ADA and DOT registration statements on Aug. 29 and the HBAR registration on Sept. 9.
CoinDesk added that the proposed funds were designed as passive vehicles tracking the value of their respective tokens after fees and expenses, and that Grayscale said it had not sold securities or distributed preliminary prospectuses under the registrations.
CoinDesk also tied the move to market conditions, noting that year-to-date ADA is down more than 41%, DOT lost 54%, and Hedera’s HBAR lost 35%.
Filing mechanics and timing
CryptoRank said the withdrawals were made on Aug. 7, 2026 using Form RW under Rule 477, and that the documents indicated the filings were voluntary rather than SEC rejections.
CryptoRank reported that the SEC accepted the Cardano, Hedera, and Polkadot requests within 190 seconds on Friday, with EDGAR accepting Cardano at 4:33:37 p.m. ET, Hedera at 4:34:55, and Polkadot at 4:36:47.
Phemex described the same sequence as “roughly ninety seconds apart late that afternoon,” and said the Form RW is a Registration Withdrawal Request that a sponsor submits to pull a registration statement that never went effective.
Phemex also stated that “None of the three registration statements had been declared effective,” and that no shares were issued or sold under any of them.
CryptoRank said markets reacted with roughly 2% declines, including ADA at $0.196, HBAR at $0.068, and DOT at $0.805, after the Aug. 7 filings became public.
What it means next
CoinDesk said the withdrawals reduce Grayscale’s pipeline of proposed single-token products, while it reported that Grayscale currently has 17 ETF products listed on its website.
“Grayscale gave no reason and could later submit new registrations”
CoinDesk also said Grayscale gave no reason and could later submit new registrations, and that CoinDesk reached out to Grayscale for comment without receiving a response immediately.
CryptoRank said the documents do not identify demand, regulation, or economics as the reason, and that the filings show no SEC rejection because Grayscale voluntarily ended registrations that never became effective.
CriptoNoticias stated that the company “no tiene la intención de proceder con la distribución planificada de las acciones del fondo” and that the sponsor confirmed “la declaración de registro no ha sido declarada efectiva,” framing the action as a voluntary withdrawal backed by Rule 477.
AltcoinBuzz said the decision removes three proposed altcoin ETFs from the SEC registration process, but does not change the underlying fundamentals of Cardano, Hedera or Polkadot, and noted that ADA fell more than 2% over 24 hours to around $0.196 while HBAR fell around 2.24% to $0.068 and DOT fell nearly 2% to around $0.805.