EX-4.1 2 ethw-ex4_1.htm EX-4.1

Exhibit 4.1

Description of Securities Registered Under
Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

The following is a summary of the rights of the common shares representing units of fractional undivided beneficial interest in and ownership (the “Shares”) of Bitwise Ethereum ETF (the “Trust”), which is the only class of securities of the Trust that is registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). The description is intended as a summary, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the First Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust and Trust Agreement, copies of which have been filed as exhibits to this annual report on Form 10-K. Terms used but not defined herein have the meaning set forth in the section entitled “Glossary of Defined Terms” in the Trust’s Annual Report on Form 10‑K for the year ended December 31, 2024, of which this exhibit is a part.

General

The Trust operates pursuant to the First Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust and Trust Agreement between Delaware Trust Company (formerly known as CSC Trust Company of Delaware), a Delaware trust company and Delaware trustee of the Trust (the “Trustee”) and Bitwise Investment Advisers, LLC (the “Sponsor”), as may be amended from time to time (as so amended, the “Trust Agreement”). Under the Trust Agreement, the Trust is authorized to create and issue an unlimited number of Shares. Shares will be issued only in Baskets (a Basket equals a block of 10,000 Shares) in connection with creations. The Shares represent units of fractional undivided beneficial interest in and ownership of the Trust and have no par value. The Shares are quoted on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”) under the ticker symbol “ETHW.”

Description of Limited Rights

The Shares have limited voting and distribution rights under the Trust Agreement. For example, except as required under applicable federal law or under the rules or regulations of the Exchange, Shareholders have no voting rights and take no part in the management or control of, and have no voice in, the Trust’s operations or business. The Trust may enact splits or reverse splits without Shareholder approval, and the Trust is not required to pay regular distributions. The Trust will not have regular Shareholder meetings. The right to authorize actions, appoint service providers or take other actions will not be held by Shareholders, as may be taken by shareholders of other trusts.

All Shares are transferable, fully paid and non-assessable. No Share will have any priority or preference over any other Share of the Trust. All distributions, if any, will be made ratably among all Shareholders from the assets of the Trust according to the number of Shares held of record by such Shareholders on the record date for any distribution or on the date of termination of the Trust, as the case may be. Except as otherwise provided by the Sponsor, Shareholders will have no preemptive or other right to subscribe to any additional shares or other securities issued by the Trust.

Voting and Approvals

Except as required under applicable federal law or under the rules or regulations of the Exchange, Shareholders have no voting rights under the Trust Agreement (including with respect to mergers,

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consolidations or conversions of the Trust or transfers to or domestication in any jurisdiction by the Trust or any other matters that under the Delaware Act default voting rights are provided to holders of beneficial interests). The Shareholders shall have the right to vote on other matters only as the Sponsor may consider desirable and so authorize in its sole discretion. To the extent that federal or Delaware law is amended, modified or interpreted by rule, regulation, order, or no-action letter to (on a mandatory basis) expand, eliminate or limit Shareholders’ right to vote on any specific matter, the Shareholders’ right to vote shall be deemed to be amended, modified or interpreted in accordance therewith without further approval by the Sponsor or the Shareholders.

Distributions

Pursuant to the terms of the Trust Agreement, the Trust may make distributions on the Shares in cash or potentially in kind. If the Trust is required to terminate and liquidate, or the Sponsor determines in accordance with the terms of the Trust Agreement that it is appropriate to terminate and liquidate the Trust, the Sponsor will sell the Trust’s ether and will distribute to the Shareholders any amounts of the cash proceeds of the liquidation remaining after the satisfaction of all outstanding liabilities of the Trust and the establishment of reserves for applicable taxes, other governmental charges and contingent or future liabilities as the Sponsor will determine. Under no circumstances will the Trust distribute ether to Shareholders. Shareholders of record on the record date fixed by the Transfer Agent for a distribution will be entitled to receive their pro rata portions of any distribution.

Incidental Rights and IR Assets

From time to time, the Trust may come into possession of rights incident to its ownership of ether, which permit the Trust to acquire, or otherwise establish dominion and control over, other digital assets. These rights are generally expected to be Forked Assets that arise in connection with hard forks in the Ethereum blockchain, airdrops offered to holders of ether and digital assets arising from other similar events without any action of the Trust or of the Sponsor or Trustee on behalf of the Trust. These rights are referred to as “Incidental Rights” and any digital assets acquired through Incidental Rights are referred to as “IR Assets.” Pursuant to the Trust Agreement, the Trust has explicitly disclaimed all Incidental Rights and IR Assets. Such assets are not considered assets of the Trust at any point in time and will not be taken into account for purposes of determining the Trust’s NAV and the NAV per Share.

Pursuant to the Trust Agreement, to the extent that the Trust involuntarily receives such assets in a Trust wallet, it will, as soon as practicable, and, if possible, immediately, distribute such assets to the Sponsor. At such time, the Incidental Right(s) and/or IR Asset(s) will be the property of the Sponsor. Once acquired, the Sponsor, subject to a reasonable, good faith determination, may take any lawful action necessary or desirable in connection with its acquisition of such assets. In the event that the Sponsor decides to sell the Incidental Right(s) and/or IR Asset(s), it will seek to do so for cash. This may be a sale of the Incidental Right(s) and/or IR Asset(s) directly in exchange for cash, or in exchange for another digital asset which may subsequently be exchanged for cash. The Sponsor would then contribute that cash back to the Trust, which in turn would distribute the cash to the Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) to be distributed to Shareholders in proportion to the number of Shares owned.

Although the Sponsor intends, if possible, to arrange for the sale of any Incidental Right(s) and/or IR Asset(s) it receives from the Trust and subsequently contribute such cash proceeds back to the Trust, it is under no obligation to do so. There are likely to be operational, tax, securities law, regulatory, legal and practical issues that significantly limit, or prevent entirely, the Sponsor’s ability to realize a benefit from

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any such Incidental Right(s) and/or IR Asset(s). The Sponsor may choose to evaluate any such fork, airdrop or similar occurrence on a case-by-case basis in consultation with its legal advisors, tax consultants and custodian.

The Sponsor is under no obligation to realize any economic benefit from any Incidental Right(s) and/or IR Asset(s) it receives from the Trust. The Sponsor may instead determine, in its sole discretion, to abandon such Incidental Rights or IR Assets permanently and irrevocably for no consideration. Before the Trust claims any Incidental Right(s) and/or IR Asset(s) resulting from a fork or airdrop in the Ethereum network (other than ether), the Trust would need to seek and obtain certain regulatory approvals, including an amendment to the Trust’s registration statement on Form S-1 (Registration No. 333- 278308), which was declared effective by the SEC on July 22, 2024, and approval of an application by the Exchange to amend its listing rules.

Creation of Shares

When the Trust creates or redeems its Shares, it will do so only in Baskets (blocks of 10,000 Shares) based on the quantity of ether attributable to each Share of the Trust (net of accrued but unpaid expenses and liabilities) multiplied by the number of Shares comprising a Basket (10,000). This is called the “Basket Amount.”

The Sponsor may in its sole discretion limit the number of Shares created pursuant to Purchase Orders on any specified day without notice to the Authorized Participants and may direct the Marketing Agent to reject any Purchase Orders in excess of such capped amount. The Sponsor may choose to limit the number of Shares created pursuant to Purchase Orders when it deems so doing to be in the best interest of Shareholders. It may choose to do so when it believes the market is too volatile to execute an ether transaction, when it believes the price of ether is being inconsistently, irregularly, or discontinuously published from ether trading venues and other data sources, or when it believes other similar circumstances may create a scenario in which accepting Purchase Orders would not be in the best interests of the Shareholders. The Sponsor does not believe that the Trust’s ability to arrive at such a determination will have a significant impact on the Shares in the secondary market because it believes that the ability to create Shares would be reinstated shortly after such determination is made, and any entity desiring to create Shares would be able to do so once the ability to create Shares is reinstated. However, it is possible that such a determination would cause the Shares to trade at premiums or discounts relative to the Trust’s NAV on the secondary market if arbitrageurs believe that there is risk that the creation and redemption process is not available, as this process is a component of keeping the price of the Shares on the secondary market closely aligned to the Trust’s NAV.

Redemption of Shares

On any business day, an Authorized Participant may place an order with the Transfer Agent through the Marketing Agent to redeem one or more Baskets (a “Redemption Order”). Redemption Orders must be placed by 2:00 p.m. ET (the “Redemption Order Cut-Off Time”), which may be modified by the Sponsor in its sole discretion. A Redemption Order will be effective on the date it is accepted by the Transfer Agent (“Redemption Order Date”). The redemption distribution from the Trust in exchange for a redemption of Shares consists of a movement of cash representing the Basket Amount of ether, less any trading expenses incurred by the Trust in liquidating the ether, to the redeeming Authorized Participant or its designee.

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Under the Trust-Directed Trade Model, the procedures by which an Authorized Participant can redeem one or more Baskets mirror the procedures for the creation of Baskets under the Trust-Directed Trade Model with an additional safeguard on ether being removed from the Trust Ether Account, which will not occur until cash has been received by the Cash Custodian in an amount equal to the Basket Amount of ether multiplied by the price at which the Trust agrees with the Ether Trading Counterparty to sell the ether on the Redemption Order Date. When seeking to sell ether on behalf of the Trust, the Sponsor will seek to sell ether at a price as close to the Pricing Index as practical. Once the trade has been agreed upon with an Ether Trading Counterparty, the transaction will generally occur on an “over-the-counter” basis. Transfers of ether from the Trust Ether Account to the Ether Trading Counterparty are “on-chain” transactions represented on the Ethereum blockchain. The Authorized Participant must deliver the Shares represented by the Basket to be redeemed to the Trust’s DTC account by end of day ET on the business day following the Redemption Order Date (the “Redemption Order Settlement Date”). The Ether Custodian will not send the Basket Amount of ether from the Trust Ether Account to the Ether Trading Counterparty until the Cash Custodian has received the cash from the Ether Trading Counterparty and is instructed by the Sponsor to make such transfer. Once the Ether Trading Counterparty has sent the cash to the Cash Custodian in an agreed upon amount to settle the agreed upon sale of the Basket Amount of ether, the Transfer Agent will notify the Sponsor. The Sponsor will then notify the Ether Custodian to transfer the ether to the Ether Trading Counterparty, and the Transfer Agent will facilitate the redemption of Shares in exchange for cash. Once the Authorized Participant has delivered the Shares represented by the Basket to be redeemed to the Trust’s DTC account, the Cash Custodian will wire the requisite amount of cash to the Authorized Participant. Transfers of ether from the Trust Ether Account to the Ether Trading Counterparty are “on-chain” transactions represented on the Ethereum blockchain. In the event that by the end of the day on the Redemption Order Settlement Date, the Trust’s account at DTC shall not have been credited with the total number of Shares corresponding to the total number of Baskets to be redeemed pursuant to such Redemption Order the Transfer Agent shall send to the Authorized Participant, the Sponsor and the Ether Custodian via fax or electronic mail message notice of such fact and the Authorized Participant shall have two (2) business days following receipt of such notice to correct such failure. If such failure is not cured within such two (2) business day period, the Transfer Agent (in consultation with the Sponsor) will cancel such Redemption Order and will send via fax or electronic mail message notice of such cancellation to the Authorized Participant and the Ether Custodian, and the Authorized Participant will be solely responsible for all costs incurred by the Trust, the Transfer Agent, the Sponsor or the Ether Custodian related to the cancelled Redemption Order.

For a redemption of Baskets utilizing the Agent Execution Model, the Authorized Participant may be required to submit a Redemption Order by an earlier than normal order cutoff time (the “Redemption Early Order Cutoff Time”). The Redemption Early Order Cutoff Time may be as early as 5:00 p.m. ET on the business day prior to Redemption Order Date. Once a Redemption Order is received, the Sponsor instructs the Ether Custodian to prepare to transfer the ether associated with the Redemption Order from the Trust Ether Account with the Ether Custodian to the Trust’s Trading Balance with the Prime Execution Agent. For a Redemption Order utilizing the Agent Execution Model, on the evening of the Redemption Order Date, the Prime Execution Agent, acting in an agency capacity, conducts ether sales on behalf of the Trust with third parties through its Coinbase Prime service in exchange for cash. The Trust’s Trading Balance with the Prime Execution Agent may not be funded with ether on the evening of the Redemption Order Date at the time of the intended execution of the sale of ether in connection with the Redemption Order because such ether is still in the Trust Ether Account at the Ether Custodian. In those circumstances the Trust may borrow Trade Credits in the form of ether from the Trade Credit Lender, which allows the Trust to sell ether through the Prime Execution Agent on the evening Redemption Order Date, and the cash proceeds are deposited in the Trust’s Trading Balance with the Prime Execution Agent. Such cash is then transferred to the Cash Custodian. The Trust will subsequently transfer the Basket Amount of ether from the Trust Ether Account to the Trust’s Trading Balance with the Prime Execution Agent. Once the Authorized Participant has delivered the Shares represented by the Basket to be redeemed to the Trust’s

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DTC account, the Cash Custodian will then wire the requisite amount of cash to the Authorized Participant. In the event Trade Credits were used, the Trust will use the ether that is moved from the Trust Ether Account with the Ether Custodian to the Trading Balance with the Prime Execution Agent to repay the Trade Credits borrowed from the Trade Credit Lender. Transfers of ether from the Trust Ether Account to the Trust’s Trading Balance are “on-chain” transactions represented on the Ethereum blockchain.

The Sponsor may, in its discretion, suspend the right of purchase or redemption or may postpone the Redemption Order Settlement Date, for (1) for any period during which the Exchange is closed other than customary weekend or holiday closings, or trading on the Exchange is suspended or restricted, (2) any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which the fulfillment of a purchase order or the redemption distribution is not reasonably practicable (for example, as a result of an interruption in services or availability of the Prime Execution Agent, Ether Custodian, Cash Custodian, Administrator, or other service providers to the Trust, act of God, catastrophe, civil disturbance, government prohibition, war, terrorism, strike or other labor dispute, fire, force majeure, interruption in telecommunications, Internet services, or network provider services, unavailability of Fedwire, SWIFT or banks’ payment processes, significant technical failure, bug, error, disruption or fork of the Ethereum network, hacking, cybersecurity breach, or power, Internet, or Ethereum network outage, or similar event), or (3) such other period as the Sponsor determines to be necessary for the protection of the Shareholders of the Trust (for example, where acceptance of the U.S. dollars needed to create each Basket would have certain adverse tax consequences to the Trust or its Shareholders). For example, the Sponsor may determine that it is necessary to suspend redemptions to allow for the orderly liquidation of the Trust’s assets. If the Sponsor has difficulty liquidating the Trust’s positions, e.g., because of a market disruption event, it may be appropriate to suspend redemptions until such time as such circumstances are rectified. None of the Sponsor, the person authorized to take Redemption Orders in the manner provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement, the Ether Custodian or the Cash Custodian will be liable to any person or in any way for any loss or damages that may result from any such suspension or postponement.

Redemption Orders must be made in whole Baskets. The Sponsor acting by itself or through the person authorized to take Redemption Orders in the manner provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement may, in its sole discretion, reject any Redemption Order (1) the Sponsor determines not to be in proper form, (2) the fulfillment of which its counsel advises may be illegal under applicable laws and regulations, or (3) if circumstances outside the control of the Sponsor, the person authorized to take redemption orders in the manner provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement or the Ether Custodian make it for all practical purposes not feasible for the Shares to be delivered under the Redemption Order. The Sponsor may also reject a Redemption Order if the number of Shares being redeemed would reduce the remaining outstanding Shares to 100,000 Shares (i.e., ten Baskets) or less.

Shares Freely Transferable

The Shares of the Trust are listed for trading on the Exchange and may be bought and sold on the Exchange like any other exchange-listed security.

Book‑Entry Form

Individual certificates are not issued for the Shares. Instead, Shares are represented by one or more global certificates, which are deposited by the Transfer Agent with DTC and registered in the name of Cede & Co., as nominee for DTC. The global certificates evidence all of the Shares outstanding at any time. Shareholders are limited to (1) participants in DTC such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies

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(“DTC Participants”), (2) those who maintain, either directly or indirectly, a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant (“Indirect Participants”), and (3) those who hold interests in the Shares through DTC Participants or Indirect Participants, in each case who satisfy the requirements for transfers of Shares. DTC Participants acting on behalf of investors holding Shares through such participants’ accounts in DTC will follow the delivery practice applicable to securities eligible for DTC’s Same-Day Funds Settlement System. Shares are credited to DTC Participants’ securities accounts following confirmation of receipt of payment.

The Shares are only transferable through the book-entry system of DTC. Shareholders who are not DTC Participants may transfer their Shares through DTC by instructing the DTC Participant holding their Shares (or by instructing the Indirect Participant or other entity through which their Shares are held) to transfer the Shares. Transfers are made in accordance with standard securities industry practice.

Share Splits

The Sponsor reserves the right to adjust the Share price of the Trust in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits. Such splits would decrease (in the case of a split) or increase (in the case of a reverse split) the proportionate NAV per Share, but would have no effect on the net assets of the Trust or the proportionate voting rights of Shareholders or the value of any Shareholder’s investment.

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