Grayscale Withdraws ETF Registration Applications for Cardano, Hedera, and Polkadot Within 190 Seconds

Aug 9, 2026

On August 7, 2026, Grayscale Investments voluntarily withdrew its spot ETF registration applications for Cardano, Hedera, and Polkadot. The asset manager executed the withdrawals in a highly coordinated sequence, filing three separate Form RW documents within a 190-second window. The filings state that no shares were ever issued or sold, and Grayscale offered no explanation for the decision. Market prices for ADA, HBAR, and DOT remained flat following the announcement, as investors viewed the move as a calculated portfolio pruning rather than a retreat from altcoin products.

Grayscale ETF withdrawal filings

▪Grayscale Investments did not provide any commercial, regulatory, or strategic explanation for withdrawing the three altcoin ETF registrations.
▪Grayscale Investments voluntarily withdrew its spot ETF registration applications for Cardano, Hedera, and Polkadot on August 7, 2026.

Cardano Hedera Polkadot products

▪The underlying exchange listing proposals for the Cardano, Polkadot, and Hedera products had already been withdrawn by NYSE Arca on September 29, 2025, and Nasdaq on November 3, 2025.
▪The original S-1 registration statements for the Grayscale Cardano Trust ETF and Grayscale Polkadot Trust ETF were submitted to the SEC on August 29, 2025, followed by the Grayscale Hedera Trust ETF on September 9, 2025.

190-second filing sequence

▪The three Form RW withdrawal requests were filed sequentially on August 7, 2026, starting with Cardano at 4:33:37 p.m. ET, Hedera at 4:34:55 p.m. ET, and Polkadot at 4:36:47 p.m. ET.
▪The entire sequence of Grayscale Investments' three ETF registration withdrawals on August 7, 2026, was completed within a span of 190 seconds.

Form RW legal mechanism

▪The Form RW filings were submitted under SEC Rule 477, representing voluntary withdrawal requests rather than regulatory rejection orders from the SEC.
▪The Form RW filings stated that the registrations had not been declared effective, no securities had been issued or sold, and no preliminary prospectuses had been distributed.
▪Under SEC Rule 477(b), an application to withdraw a pre-effective registration statement is deemed approved upon filing unless the SEC objects within 15 days.

Remaining altcoin applications

▪As of August 8, 2026, Grayscale Investments' registration statements for proposed Bittensor, Aave, BNB, NEAR, and Zcash products remained preliminary and ineffective.
▪The SEC declared the registration statements for the Grayscale Avalanche Staking ETF and Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF effective on March 11, 2026, and June 2, 2026, respectively.

Market price stability

▪Cardano (ADA) traded near the $0.20 level, touching an intraday low of $0.194 and a high of $0.199 on Monday, August 10, 2026.
▪Market prices for Cardano (ADA), Hedera (HBAR), and Polkadot (DOT) remained flat with no significant price movements following the withdrawal announcement.