Grayscale Withdraws Application for Planned Spot Cardano ETF

Grayscale has officially withdrawn its registration statement for a planned spot Cardano ETF, halting its immediate efforts to launch a dedicated $ADA investment product in the United States.

In a formal filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 7, Grayscale Investments Sponsors, LLC requested permission to withdraw the Form S-1 registration statement for the proposed Grayscale Cardano Trust ETF. The asset manager explicitly stated that it no longer intends to proceed with the planned distribution of shares registered under the filing.

Grayscale confirmed that the SEC had not declared the registration statement effective. Furthermore, the company noted that it had neither issued nor sold any securities under the registration statement or its accompanying prospectus.

Withdrawal Precedes $ADA ETF Eligibility Date

The timing of Grayscale's withdrawal stands out because it occurred just two days before Cardano was set to reach a key milestone within the SEC's streamlined spot ETF review framework. Cardano was expected to reach its six-month ETF eligibility milestone on August 9, 2026.

For broader context, the CME Group launched regulated $ADA futures on February 9, 2026, establishing a regulated futures market for Cardano within the U.S. The availability of these regulated futures helped satisfy an important condition for the streamlined review of a potential spot $ADA ETF. Consequently, August 9 marked a highly anticipated and important date in Cardano's race for a U.S. spot ETF.

However, Grayscale ultimately decided to withdraw its S-1 registration on August 7, just 48 hours before $ADA reached that milestone. The withdrawal is notable given Grayscale's prominent role in advancing U.S. crypto ETF access, including its successful conversion of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin ETF following landmark SEC approval in January 2024.

SEC Review Ends as Grayscale Withdraws Application

Grayscale initially filed its Cardano ETF proposal in February 2025. A few weeks later, the SEC acknowledged the related NYSE 19b-4 filing, which formally advanced the proposed listing through the regulatory process. However, the application will no longer proceed under Grayscale's current filing because the asset manager has formally withdrawn its registration statement.

Grayscale Also Withdraws Hedera and Polkadot ETF Filings

The decision to pull the Cardano ETF filing was not an isolated event. Grayscale also submitted withdrawal filings for its proposed Hedera and Polkadot ETF products. As a result, the simultaneous withdrawals suggest that the asset manager may be broadly reassessing several of its planned single-asset crypto ETF offerings. The pullback affects a range of altcoin products that had entered the U.S. regulatory pipeline amid a wave of spot crypto ETF filings following the successful launch of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

Nonetheless, the Cardano withdrawal carries particular significance because Grayscale had been the only asset manager actively seeking to launch a dedicated spot $ADA ETF in the United States. The withdrawal temporarily removes the most prominent standalone Cardano ETF proposal from the U.S. regulatory pipeline.

$ADA Still Has Exposure Through Crypto Basket ETFs

Despite the withdrawal of a standalone ETF, investors can still gain indirect exposure to $ADA through several diversified crypto investment products. For instance, Cardano is currently included in the Grayscale Smart Contract ETF, the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index ETF, and the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF. These specific products give investors exposure to $ADA alongside a basket of other digital assets.

However, a dedicated spot $ADA ETF would have provided a much more direct investment vehicle for Cardano exposure, without requiring investors to directly purchase and hold the underlying $ADA tokens themselves.