Grayscale Pulls Back From Three Altcoin ETF Plans

Key Takeaways

In separate Form RW submissions filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, the firm requested permission to withdraw the Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot Trust ETF registration statements.

None had become effective, and no securities were issued or sold under them.

The ETF Process Started Months Before the S-1s

The regulatory history goes back to early 2025, when exchanges first sought permission to list the products.

NYSE Arca filed a proposed rule change for the Cardano ETF in February, while Nasdaq submitted separate 19b-4 proposals for Polkadot and Hedera later that month. At the time, each product needed its own exchange-rule approval from the SEC.

The registration side came later. Grayscale filed the Cardano S-1 and Polkadot S-1 on August 29, 2025, followed by the Hedera registration statement on September 9.

Final SEC decision dates under the old 19b-4 process had been set for October 26 for Cardano, November 8 for Polkadot and November 12 for Hedera.

Those deadlines were never reached. NYSE Arca withdrew the Cardano proposal on September 29, while Nasdaq pulled the Polkadot and Hedera filings on November 3.

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A New SEC Framework Changed the Path Forward

By then, the regulatory framework had already shifted.

On September 17, 2025, the SEC approved generic listing standards for qualifying commodity-based exchange-traded products.

Under the previous system, an exchange seeking to list a new crypto ETF generally had to submit a separate 19b-4 proposed rule change for that specific product and wait for the SEC to approve it. The issuer’s S-1 registration statement ran alongside that exchange-listing process.

The generic standards changed the first part of that equation. An ETF that meets the predefined requirements can now be listed by an exchange without a separate 19b-4 approval for each individual product. The issuer still needs the appropriate registration statement, so the new framework does not eliminate the S-1 process.

That distinction matters for Grayscale. The withdrawal of the old Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot 19b-4 proposals did not automatically terminate their S-1 registrations, which remained on file into 2026.

The company is now seeking to withdraw those specific registration statements as well. That does not necessarily prevent it from returning with new Cardano, Hedera or Polkadot ETF registrations designed to use the generic listing framework, although the company has not indicated that it plans to do so.

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