Key Takeaways
Grayscale withdrew Form RW filings for ADA, HBAR and DOT trusts between 4:33 and 4:36 p.m. ET on Aug. 7.All 3 Form RW filings contained identical language, with no particular reason stated for the pullback.Two days earlier, Grayscale analysts had warned that the U.S. risks a crypto exodus without the passing of CLARITY Act.
Three Withdrawals, 190 Seconds Apart
According to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, Grayscale filed three separate Form RW submissions on Aug. 7, withdrawing the S-1 registration statements for the Grayscale Cardano Trust ETF, the Grayscale Hedera Trust ETF and the Grayscale Polkadot Trust ETF.
The sequence moved fast as the Cardano withdrawal was filed at 4:33:37 p.m. ET, Hedera at 4:34:55 p.m., and Polkadot coming last at 4:36:47 p.m. (basically all three within a 190-second window).
Each filing used identical language, stating that “Grayscale does not intend to proceed with the proposed distribution of shares.”
These are voluntary withdrawal requests filed under SEC Rule 477, not SEC orders rejecting the products. None of the three registration statements had been declared effective, no securities were ever issued or sold, and no preliminary prospectus had been distributed to investors. In layman’s terms, Grayscale walked away before the products ever got close to trading, and the paperwork offers no separate commercial or regulatory justification for why.
A Reversal From Earlier This Year
The withdrawals come as a major reversal from Grayscale’s own momentum from earlier this year when the asset manager filed registration forms for the Cardano and Polkadot trusts in the spring, positioning both alongside a broader wave of altcoin ETF applications from major issuers.
The underlying exchange listing proposals had already been pulled once before by the exchanges themselves, with NYSE Arca withdrawing its Cardano listing proposal during Sept. last year and Nasdaq withdrawing its Polkadot and Hedera proposals just a couple of months later.
Grayscale has not issued a public statement explaining the decision. Possibilities range from muted investor demand for single-asset ADA, HBAR and DOT products, a strategic decision to concentrate resources on higher-priority filings, to even a broader recalibration of which altcoins Grayscale believes justify a dedicated U.S.-listed vehicle right now.
Not a Retreat From ETFs Overall
The withdrawals do not signal that Grayscale is stepping back from crypto ETFs entirely, as the firm has continued to push forward elsewhere, filing a preliminary S-1 for a Worldcoin ETF as recently as July. Similarly, its Hyperliquid Staking ETF launched a couple of months ago, offering the lowest sponsor fee of any U.S.-listed HYPE product on the market.
Also, just two days before the withdrawals, Grayscale’s head of research argued that the U.S. risks a crypto “exodus” if the CLARITY Act fails to pass the Senate, warning that new investment and startup activity could drift toward friendlier jurisdictions if Washington doesn’t deliver comprehensive market-structure rules.
That Grayscale would simultaneously lobby for a more welcoming U.S. regulatory environment while abandoning three of its own pending U.S. product filings shows just how selective issuers have become about which crypto ETF bets are worth fighting for under current SEC timelines.
For ADA, HBAR and DOT holders hoping for a U.S.-listed spot vehicle, the door isn’t necessarily closed for good since Form RW withdrawals don’t prevent Grayscale or any other issuer from re-filing later if demand or regulatory conditions change.
