According to reports, Grayscale has taken a significant step toward broadening its altcoin ETF portfolio by registering the Grayscale Cardano Trust ETF and Grayscale Hedera Trust ETF with Delaware’s official registration portal. Historically, such filings have been a prelude to formal S-1 submissions with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), often signaling that a launch could follow within months.
The SEC has already acknowledged NYSE Arca’s 19b-4 form for the Cardano ETF and Nasdaq’s form for the Hedera ETF earlier this year, giving these products a procedural head start. For Grayscale, these are the first Cardano and Hedera ETF trusts to appear in Delaware’s registry. The firm already maintains trust structures for other altcoins like Dogecoin, Filecoin, Avalanche, and Bittensor, which have so far operated as private placement vehicles rather than publicly traded ETFs.
If history repeats, this step could mean that public altcoin ETFs — beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum — are edging closer to reality in U.S. markets. It also shows that Grayscale is willing to diversify beyond top-market-cap tokens, targeting networks with specific ecosystem value propositions.
Grayscale’s move comes against the backdrop of improving regulatory clarity. Recent SEC decisions, such as the approval of in-kind redemptions for spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, have emboldened issuers to push altcoin-based products.
In parallel, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are advancing “Project Crypto”, a joint initiative aimed at drawing clear lines between digital assets that qualify as securities and those that do not. This distinction is pivotal: without it, ETF issuers face legal ambiguity over whether they are offering a compliant product. If Project Crypto delivers concrete guidance, it could pave the way for faster approval timelines and reduced litigation risk for altcoin ETFs.
Also on Tuesday, Grayscale rolled out two new investment trusts focused on the native tokens of DeepBook and Walrus, both part of the Sui blockchain ecosystem. These products are not ETFs but are structured to give accredited investors targeted exposure to specific infrastructure tokens.
This fits into a broader strategic arc: Grayscale appears to be building a wide catalog of altcoin investment products, with the flexibility to convert eligible trusts into ETFs once the regulatory environment allows. By securing early registration, they lock in operational readiness and can be first to market.
If the Cardano and Hedera ETFs proceed to full SEC approval, it would mark the first wave of spot altcoin ETFs in the United States beyond the BTC/ETH duo. That could trigger:
Given the precedent of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF launches, the immediate effect could be sharp price volatility followed by a liquidity-driven uptrend, especially if approval coincides with broader bullish sentiment in the crypto market.
The key variable is the SEC’s willingness to extend the ETF model to altcoins that are not yet universally classified as commodities. Project Crypto’s definitions and enforcement roadmap will be critical in determining whether these filings translate into actual products or remain as dormant registrations.
If approvals arrive, Cardano and Hedera could serve as the litmus test for how well altcoin ETFs perform in a regulated U.S. environment — and whether the market is ready to price in a multi-asset ETF era.
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