Grayscale pulls its Cardano, Polkadot and Hedera ETF registrations

Grayscale Investments has withdrawn three registration statements from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, ending — at least for now — its plans for exchange-traded funds tracking Cardano's ADA, Polkadot's DOT and Hedera's HBAR. CoinDesk, citing the filings themselves, reported the three withdrawal requests were submitted within four minutes of each other late Friday, Aug. 7.

The language in each was the same: Grayscale told the SEC it "does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution" of the trusts' shares. None of the registrations had gone effective. Grayscale said it had not sold securities or distributed preliminary prospectuses under any of them, per CoinDesk's reading of the filings.

The mechanics matter here. These were sponsor-initiated withdrawals, not denials. The SEC did not reject anything, and nothing in a withdrawal bars Grayscale from filing again later. Grayscale gave no reason in the filings, and CoinDesk said it asked the firm for comment and had not received a response at publication.

On timing, CoinDesk gives two dates that don't quite line up. It says the initial ADA proposal came in February 2025 with the DOT filing later that month, but also that the corresponding ADA and DOT registration statements were filed Aug. 29 and the HBAR registration Sept. 9 — years unstated. The most sensible reading is proposal first, registration statement later, but the outlet does not spell that out, and it elsewhere describes the filings as having "came in" in late February 2025. Treat the precise registration dates as unresolved.

What isn't disputed is the price backdrop. Per CoinDesk, ADA is down more than 41% year to date, DOT 54% and HBAR 35%. Measured from late February 2025, the same outlet puts the drawdowns at roughly 70% for ADA, 80% for DOT and more than 70% for HBAR. Grayscale still lists 17 ETF products on its website, including a Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF, an Ethereum Staking Mini ETF and a Hyperliquid Staking ETF.

Key facts

• Three registration withdrawals filed within four minutes late Friday, Aug. 7 (CoinDesk, citing the SEC filings).
• Tokens affected: ADA, DOT, HBAR. Funds were designed as passive vehicles tracking each token's value after fees and expenses (CoinDesk).
• No registration became effective; no securities sold, no preliminary prospectuses distributed (Grayscale, via the filings as reported by CoinDesk).
• Withdrawals were sponsor-initiated, not SEC rejections; no reason given (CoinDesk).
• Performance: ADA −41%+, DOT −54%, HBAR −35% YTD; −70%, −80% and −70%+ respectively since late Feb. 2025 (CoinDesk).
• Grayscale's site still lists 17 ETF products (CoinDesk).

The real-world read

Filing three withdrawals inside four minutes, late on a Friday, is not how a firm announces a strategic decision it wants discussed. There is no press release, no stated rationale and no comment — which leaves the price data as the only available explanation, and it is a circumstantial one, not a confirmed one.

Note what the filings do not say: nothing about demand, seed capital, authorized participants, listing-exchange commitments, or whether the SEC signaled anything privately. A withdrawal is also cheap optionality — Grayscale keeps the door open to refile without ever having to explain the retreat.

One caution on the numbers themselves: the "since late February 2025" drawdowns are anchored to a date CoinDesk also uses for filing timing it doesn't fully reconcile. The direction is unambiguous; the exact start point deserves a check against primary filing records.

Opinion, and whose

None available. Grayscale offered no rationale, no analyst or official was quoted, and CoinDesk drew no conclusion of its own about motive. Any explanation currently circulating is inference, not sourcing.

Sources

• CoinDesk (Aug. 10, 2026), "Grayscale quietly drops Cardano, Polkadot and Hedera ETF plans" — the sole account, citing the SEC withdrawal filings directly, plus filing chronology, token performance figures and Grayscale's current product count. Reputable secondary reporting; the underlying SEC filings are the primary record and are worth checking directly. No marketing, sponsored or commissioned material was used here, and none was on offer — Grayscale published nothing.

Nothing here is financial advice.