ARK Invest and 21 Shares have omitted the staking component from their most recent Ethereum ETF filing.

The proposed spot ether exchange-traded fund by Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest and 21Shares will no longer incorporate staking.

Previously, in a filing, ArkInvest/21 Shares had outlined a staking component indicating that the “sponsor may, from time to time, stake a portion of the Trust’s assets through one or more trusted Staking Providers.” However, this specific language was absent from the updated filing posted on Friday.

The removal of the staking component in the updated filing could imply several scenarios, suggested Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas in a post on X on Friday. 

Balchunas remarked, “While it may seem like this is them getting their docs in shape based on SEC comments (which would be good news) there hasn’t been any comments. 

So it’s probably either a Hail Mary or maybe trying to give SEC one less thing to use in their rejection. Not sure (yet).”

Despite the development, ARK Invest and 21 Shares did not promptly respond to a request for comment.

Ark Invest and 21Shares initially applied for the spot ether ETF in September, aiming to offer direct exposure to ether and trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange using the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate – New York Variant. 

21Shares serves as the sponsor of the trust, with Delaware Trust Company acting as the trustee and Coinbase Custody Trust Company as the ether custodian. 

ARK Investment Management acts as the sub-adviser of the trust and assists in the marketing of the Shares.

Optimism regarding the SEC’s approval of spot ether ETFs has diminished in recent months. Balchunas, last month, revised his estimate of the likelihood of a spot Ethereum ETF approval by late May from around 70% to 25%