Grayscale withdrew its proposed spot ETFs for Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot on Aug. 7, filing all three withdrawal requests with the SEC within 190 seconds of each other: 4:33:37 p.m. ET for the Cardano trust, 4:34:55 p.m. for Hedera, 4:36:47 p.m. for Polkadot.
A direct review of the three filings shows identical language across all of them:
the Sponsor does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution of the Trust’s shares
Each filing also confirms the registrations were never declared effective and no shares were issued or sold. Grayscale’s rebalance makes BNB the Smart Contract Fund’s largest holding, reflecting its index methodology rather than a shift away from Ethereum.
The timing looks pointed. The paper trail says otherwise.
The withdrawals land in the same stretch as two other Grayscale headlines. Grayscale’s chief financial officer, Edward McGee, left the firm effective July 2 after seven years; the company’s own disclosure cited personal reasons and stated there was no disagreement over “operations, policies or practices.”
McGee’s departure follows head of distribution John Hoffman’s exit to Ondo Finance last fall. Separately, Grayscale’s NYSE IPO, filed under the ticker “GRAY” in November 2025, has reportedly been paused, and isn’t expected to restart before the fourth quarter of 2026.
NYSE Arca withdrew its exchange listing proposal for the Cardano ETF on Sept. 29, 2025, and Nasdaq withdrew the Polkadot and Hedera listing proposals on Nov. 3, 2025; neither exchange gave a public reason at the time, either. That puts the real decision point roughly nine to ten months (277 to 312 days) before this month’s SEC paperwork, well before McGee’s exit or the IPO pause were public.
Under a routine SEC provision, Rule 477(b), a Form RW withdrawal is deemed granted within 15 days absent objection, which makes the Aug. 7 filings closer to a compliance formality than a fresh strategic call. The leadership turnover and the ETF withdrawals appear to be running on parallel timelines.
The exchanges and Grayscale’s own research team moved first
Polkadot’s exit had an even earlier tell. Grayscale’s own Q2 2026 “assets under consideration” report, published April 11, dropped DOT from its watchlist entirely, part of a broader cut from 36 tracked tokens to 30 and the elimination of its “Consumer & Culture” category in favor of AI and infrastructure names.
That’s four months of daylight between Grayscale flagging Polkadot as a lower priority internally and the SEC filing that formally killed it.
Grayscale’s other altcoin bets are still alive
Grayscale still has active registrations moving through the SEC for Bittensor, Aave, BNB, NEAR and Zcash. Two of its staking-linked products have already cleared the bar this year: the Grayscale Avalanche Staking ETF went effective March 11, and the Hyperliquid Staking ETF followed on June 2. Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot are the names getting cut, not the category.
Watch the exchanges, not the next SEC filing
The 15-day Rule 477(b) window on these three withdrawals closes in late August. The more telling signal for any of Grayscale’s five remaining altcoin filings will likely be the next exchange-listing withdrawal, not the eventual SEC paperwork.
The paper trail, in full
- Aug. 29, 2025: Cardano and Polkadot S-1 registrations filed
- Sept. 9, 2025: Hedera S-1 registration filed
- Sept. 29, 2025: NYSE Arca withdraws the Cardano exchange listing proposal
- Nov. 3, 2025: Nasdaq withdraws the Polkadot and Hedera exchange listing proposals
- Nov. 13, 2025: Grayscale files for a NYSE IPO under the ticker “GRAY”
- March 11, 2026: Grayscale Avalanche Staking ETF becomes effective
- April 11, 2026: Grayscale’s Q2 2026 research report drops Polkadot from its watchlist
- June 2, 2026: Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF becomes effective
- July 2, 2026: CFO Edward McGee departs; Grayscale’s IPO process is reported paused
- Aug. 7, 2026: Grayscale files Form RW withdrawals for all three ETFs
FAQ
1. What is a Form RW?
An SEC filing that formally withdraws a registration statement, in this case the S-1 registration statements that would have created the ADA, HBAR and DOT funds.
2. Did this affect ADA, HBAR or DOT’s price?
No major price reaction was reported for any of the three tokens in the days after the filing. HBAR’s trading data shows only a modest 7-day move over that stretch.
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