Grayscale Axes Plans for Cardano, Polkadot, and Hedera ETFs

Grayscale Investments has withdrawn its plans to list three single-asset exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to Cardano's $ADA, Polkadot's $DOT, and Hedera's $HBAR. The asset manager submitted Form RW requests to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, stating it 'does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution' of the trusts' shares.

The withdrawals were sponsor-initiated under Rule 477 of the Securities Act of 1933, indicating a change in Grayscale's product priorities rather than a regulatory defeat. The S-1 registration statements had been filed in late August and early September 2025 amidst a wave of altcoin ETF applications.

All three underlying tokens have fallen sharply since then, with $DOT down the most on a year-to-date basis. Since filing, Cardano's price has dropped more than 41%, Polkadot's has lost about 54%, and Hedera's has shed roughly 35%.