Bitwise's Revised Form S-1 for Ether ETF

Asset management firm Bitwise has revised its spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) Form S-1 registration statement. This update included a potential $100 million investment in the ETF upon its trading launch. Bitwise handed its revised version to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday.

Pantera Capital's Interest

The revised statement reveals that investment firm Pantera Capital Management is interested in purchasing up to $100 million worth of shares in the Ether ETF. The document clarifies that indications of interest are not binding agreements. Pantera Capital could purchase more, fewer, or no shares at all.

"However, because indications of interest are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase, these potential purchasers could determine to purchase more, fewer or no Shares," the filing said.

Understanding Form S-1

A Form S-1 is a vital document submitted to the SEC before a security starts trading. It includes crucial information on financials, operations, and risk analysis.

The approval of these filings is the final step before the spot Ether ETFs can be publicly traded. SEC Chair Gary Gensler mentioned that this could happen "sometime over the course of this summer."

SEC's Approval and Investigation

On May 23, the SEC approved 19b-4 filings from eight Ether ETF bidders. However, the applications still require Form S-1 approvals before the ETFs can begin trading on U.S. exchanges. The amended filing by Bitwise coincides with the SEC dropping its investigation into whether Ether is a security.

SEC Closes Investigation

The Enforcement Division of the SEC has decided to close its investigation into Ethereum 2.0. Ethereum developer Consensys announced this in a June 19 post on X. This means that the SEC will not bring charges alleging that sales of ETH are securities transactions.

"This means that the SEC will not bring charges alleging that sales of ETH are securities transactions," Consensys explained.