Cardano Gets Wall Street Boost With Nasdaq Index Inclusion, ADA Community Reacts

Cardano, the 10th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has recently scored a significant milestone that could boost its Wall Street exposure. Cardanians, a Cardano-focused X community account, spotlights this milestone in a recent tweet.

Nasdaq has reconstituted the Nasdaq Crypto U.S. Settlement Price Index (the “NCIUS”), which currently serves as the benchmark index for the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index U.S. ETF, effective June 2, 2025, according to a recent Form 8-K SEC filing.

As a result of the reconstitution, the “NCIUS” now includes Cardano and three additional digital assets: Solana (SOL), Stellar (XLM) and XRP, in addition to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

“This is a major step forward in bringing Cardano closer to Wall Street and traditional markets,” Cardanians wrote, echoing the sentiment felt across much of the ADA community.

Despite the changes, the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index U.S. ETF is only allowed to hold BTC and ETH due to the limitations of its currently approved listing rule, which restricts its holdings to only BTC and ETH while it eagerly awaits SEC approval for its proposed rule change.

Major decision ahead

On March 7, 2025, Nasdaq filed a proposed rule change with the SEC, seeking to include Cardano, XRP and other cryptocurrencies in its Nasdaq Crypto Index U.S. ETF.

If approved, the rule change would allow the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index U.S. ETF to change its Benchmark Index from the “NCIUS” to the Nasdaq Crypto Index (“NCI”), a broader index that would hold nine digital assets.

The approval would also allow the Trust to hold a broader set of index constituents, including BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, ADA, Chainlink (LINK), Litecoin (LTC), XLM and Uniswap (UNI). The proposed rule change is now being reviewed by the SEC, with a final decision due on or before Nov. 2, 2025.