In a recent development, the asset management firm Bitwise has revised its spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) Form S-1 registration statement. The filing includes a potential $100 million investment in the ETF upon its trading launch, with investment firm Pantera Capital Management expressing interest in this opportunity.

Bitwise's June 18 filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) states that Pantera Capital Management "has indicated an interest in purchasing an aggregate of up to $100 million of Shares" in the Ether ETF. However, the filing also notes that these indications of interest are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase, and the potential purchasers could decide to buy more, fewer, or no shares at all.

The Form S-1 filing is a crucial step in the approval process before the spot Ether ETFs can be publicly traded. SEC Chair Gary Gensler believes that this event will happen "sometime over the course of this summer."

On May 23, the SEC approved 19b-4 filings from eight Ether ETF bidders, but the applications still require Form S-1 approvals before the ETFs can begin trading on U.S. exchanges.

Interestingly, the amended filing comes on the same day that the SEC dropped its investigation into whether Ether is a security. Ethereum developer Consensys announced in a June 19 X post that "the Enforcement Division of the SEC has notified us that it is closing its investigation into Ethereum 2.0," meaning that the SEC will not bring charges alleging that sales of ETH are securities transactions.

This development is likely to provide a boost to the Ether ETF approval process, as the SEC's decision to close the investigation into Ethereum 2.0 could remove a potential roadblock for the ETF's approval.