iShares Ethereum Trust ETF filed SEC Form 8-K: Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement, Financial Statements and Exhibits

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Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the

 

 

 

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (415) 670-2000

 

 

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 

 

 

 

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

 

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On April 7, 2025, BlackRock Fund Advisors, as administrative trustee of iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (the "Trust") entered into a custodial services agreement (the "Anchorage Custodian Agreement") with Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. ("Anchorage" or the "Additional Ether Custodian"), a national trust bank chartered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Pursuant to the Anchorage Custodian Agreement, Anchorage will establish and maintain one or more segregated custody accounts, controlled and secured by Anchorage, on its books which will have the ability to support the receipt, safekeeping, and maintenance of the Trust’s ether holdings.

 

The Trust’s existing custody arrangement with Coinbase Inc., Coinbase Custody Trust Company and other Coinbase entities (collectively, "Coinbase") will remain in force and is unaffected by the Trust's entry into the Anchorage Custodian Agreement. The Trust is not required to hold any particular amount of assets at either Coinbase or the Additional Ether Custodian, and the Sponsor shall, in its sole discretion, determine the amounts held at either custodian as permitted by the Trust Agreement.  At the current time, the Sponsor has no plans to move any of the Trust’s ether to the Additional Ether Custodian.  The addition of the Additional Ether Custodian reflects the Sponsor’s ongoing risk management approach as part of the Trust’s growing size and the Sponsor’s expanding presence in the digital asset space.

 

Under the Anchorage Custodian Agreement, the Additional Ether Custodian is required to keep all of the private keys associated with the Trust’s ether held at the Additional Ether Custodian in cold storage. Cold storage is a safeguarding method by which the private key(s) corresponding to ether is (are) generated and stored in an offline manner. Private keys are generated in offline computers or devices that are not connected to the internet so that they are more resistant to being hacked. By contrast, in hot storage, the private keys are held online, where they are more accessible, leading to more efficient transfers, though they are potentially more vulnerable to being hacked.

 

In the event of a fork, the Anchorage Custodian Agreement provides that the Additional Ether Custodian may temporarily suspend services, and may, in their sole discretion, determine whether or not to support (or cease supporting) either branch of the forked protocol entirely, provided that the Additional Ether Custodian shall use commercially reasonable efforts to avoid ceasing to support both branches of such forked protocol. The Anchorage Custodian Agreement requires the Trust to indemnify Anchorage and its respective officers, directors, agents, employees and representatives against certain losses arising or related to the Trust’s material breach of the Anchorage Custodian Agreement, violation of applicable law, gross negligence, fraud, or wilful misconduct. The Anchorage Custodian Agreement also requires Anchorage to maintain certain insurance policies and coverage.

 

The foregoing description of the Anchorage Custodian Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Anchorage Custodian Agreement, which has been filed with this Current Report on Form 8-K as Exhibit 10.1.

 

 

 

 

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

 

Date: April 8, 2025