VanEck Ethereum ETF

What they do

The Trust owns ETH transferred to it in exchange for shares, with assets held primarily by third-party custodians. VanEck Digital Assets, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Van Eck Associates Corporation, is the Sponsor and manages and controls the Trust, which has no directors, officers or employees. Gemini Trust Company, LLC and Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC hold all of the Trust's ethereum, while State Street Bank and Trust Company serves as administrator, transfer agent and cash custodian. The Trust issues and redeems Shares only in blocks of 25,000 Shares called Baskets, and only with registered broker-dealer Authorized Participants, in cash or in-kind.

Revenue drivers

• ETH price exposure (only source of economic return) — The Trust's NAV is calculated daily from the MarketVector Ethereum Benchmark Rate at 4:00 p.m. EST; the only stated ordinary expense during the latest period was the Sponsor's Fee, which was waived.
• Share creations and redemptions — The Trust issues Shares in 25,000-Share Baskets to Authorized Participants in exchange for cash or in-kind ETH, and redeems Baskets by selling ETH to Liquidity Providers or delivering ETH in-kind.
• ETH sales for expenses — The Trust's stated only source of liquidity is its sales of ETH, used to pay the Sponsor's Fee and Trust expenses not assumed by the Sponsor.

Recent performance

The Trust's NAV decreased from $106,775,700 at March 31, 2026 to $77,828,275 at June 30, 2026, a 27.11% decrease. The decrease resulted primarily from a decline in the price of ETH, which fell 24.35% from $2,101.20 at March 31, 2026 to $1,589.53 at June 30, 2026. At December 31, 2025, the Trust's fiscal year end, NAV was $157,578,941 with 3,625,000 Shares outstanding. Reported annual net income for 2025 was negative $33.8 million. Latest reported total assets were $77.8 million and total liabilities $13,830 at June 30, 2026.

Strategy

The Trust is a passive investment vehicle that seeks to reflect the performance of the price of ETH less operating expenses; it is not actively managed and will not take actions to take advantage of, or mitigate, ETH price volatility. The Trust does not pursue any investment strategy beyond tracking the price of ETH and does not engage in activities designed to profit from or ameliorate losses caused by ETH price changes. The Sponsor has agreed to assume most Trust expenses in exchange for a fee. The Sponsor has exclusive authority to determine NAV and NAV per Share, which it has delegated to the Administrator.

Risks

• ETH price volatility — The filing states that trading prices of digital assets including ETH have experienced extreme volatility and that the Shares could lose all or substantially all of their value.
• Prior digital asset market failures — The 10-K cites the 2022 bankruptcies of Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, Three Arrows Capital and FTX, which it says caused loss of confidence and negative publicity in the digital asset ecosystem.
• Custodian concentration — All of the Trust's ethereum is held by Gemini Trust Company, LLC and Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC, exposing the Trust to those custodians' operations and solvency.
• No active management — The Trust is not actively managed and will not take actions to take advantage of, or mitigate the impacts of, volatility in the price of ETH.

Outlook

The Trust states it is not aware of any trends, demands, conditions or events reasonably likely to result in material changes to its liquidity needs. Management frames the Trust as a passive vehicle whose results depend on the price of ETH less operating expenses, with the Sponsor assuming most expenses. The 10-Q forward-looking statement section says actual events or results may differ materially from the Sponsor's expectations and that neither the Trust nor the Sponsor undertakes to update forward-looking statements except as required by law.