Grayscale Drops Cardano ETF Filing Just as ADA Clears a Key Hurdle

Eligibility may be open, but demand remains the harder test

The YouTube video describes regulated CME futures trading as a key requirement for crypto assets seeking a spot ETF listing in the U.S. Under that view, ADA has now met an important prerequisite that had previously limited its ETF prospects.

Grayscale nevertheless pulled its filings only days before that milestone, according to Linda. The firm did not publicly disclose its reasoning in the video, but she frames the decision as a commercial calculation rather than a rejection of Cardano itself.

“An ETF is just an open door,” she says. “It doesn’t mean that people will buy it.” The point matters because ETF approval has often been treated by crypto markets as an automatic catalyst for price gains, despite the uneven performance of non-Bitcoin products.

Solana and XRP offer a less explosive ETF benchmark

Linda points to XRP and Solana products as a more realistic comparison for a future Cardano ETF than Bitcoin. She says JPMorgan had projected $8 billion in first-year XRP ETF inflows, while actual inflows were sitting below $1.5 billion; Solana products were cited at roughly $1.8 billion.

In the video’s framing, Bitcoin ETFs typically draw about $100 million in net inflows and Ethereum products around $50 million, while Solana and XRP products are currently near zero. Those figures were presented as evidence that initial interest in major altcoin ETFs can fade quickly when broader market demand is weak.

Grayscale’s existing ADA exposure also appears limited. Linda says the firm’s private-fund ADA holdings total only about $78,000, with ADA accounting for roughly 5% of its Smart Contract Fund. She argues that this provides little incentive to spend on a dedicated Cardano ETF.

What a future ADA ETF could actually change

The important shift here is consideration: Cardano may now have a clearer route to Wall Street if another major issuer files. Still, the host cautions that approval alone would not create sustained demand without stronger ecosystem activity, developer traction and market attention.

She points to Cardano scaling work, Bitcoin DeFi development, the planned RealFi mainnet, an Injective bridge and the community’s vote to allocate half a billion ADA toward ecosystem spending as potential demand drivers. A future ETF, in that case, may amplify existing interest rather than manufacture it.

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