Grayscale Withdraws Cardano, Hedera, and Polkadot ETF Filings in 190 Seconds

Grayscale has quietly withdrawn its Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot exchange-traded fund (ETF) registrations within three minutes of each other, ending three attempts to bring the tokens to U.S. markets without explanation.

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.