Exhibit 99.3
The following disclosure shall be incorporated by reference into the section titled “Item 1. Business” and shall update the existing section titled “Item 1. Business—Service Providers of the Trust—Authorized Participant” in the Annual Report:
Authorized Participants
An Authorized Participant must enter into a “Participant Agreement” with the Sponsor and the Trust to govern its placement of orders to create and redeem Baskets. The Participant Agreement sets forth the procedures for the creation and redemption of Baskets and for the delivery of Bitcoin required for creations. A copy of the form of Participant Agreement is available for inspection at the Sponsor’s principal office identified herein.
Each Authorized Participant (i) is a registered broker-dealer, (ii) has entered into a Participant Agreement with the Sponsor and the Transfer Agent and (iii) in the case of creations or redemptions through In-Kind Orders (as defined below) must also own, or their designee in connection with In-Kind Orders (“AP Designee”), must own, a Bitcoin wallet address that is known to the Custodian as belonging to the Authorized Participant or its AP Designee and maintain an account with the Custodian.
The Trust issues Shares to, and redeems Shares from, Authorized Participants on an ongoing basis, but only in one or more Baskets (with a “Basket” being a block of 10,000 Shares). The Participant Agreements set forth the procedures for the creation and redemption of Baskets by the Authorized Participants. Although the Trust creates Baskets only upon the receipt of Bitcoin, and redeems Baskets only by distributing Bitcoin or proceeds from the disposition of Bitcoin, Authorized Participants may choose to submit “Cash Orders,” pursuant to which the Authorized Participant will deposit cash into, or accept cash from, the Cash Account (as defined herein) in connection with the creation and redemption of Baskets. Cash Orders will be facilitated by the Transfer Agent and Grayscale Investments Sponsors, LLC (in such capacity, the “Liquidity Engager”), which will engage one or more eligible companies (each, a “Liquidity Provider”) that is not an agent of, or otherwise acting on behalf of, any Authorized Participant to obtain or receive Bitcoin in connection with such orders. The Sponsor may in its sole discretion limit the number of Shares created pursuant to Cash Orders on any specified day without notice to the Authorized Participants and may direct the Marketing Agent to reject any Cash Orders in excess of such capped amount. The redemption of Shares pursuant to Cash Orders will only take place if approved by the Sponsor in writing, in its sole discretion and on a case-by-case basis.
As of the date of this filing, NYSE Arca has received regulatory approval permitting the Trust to conduct creations and redemptions of Shares via in-kind transactions with Authorized Participants or AP Designee in exchange for Bitcoin. The Trust is also able to accept Cash Orders (as defined herein). Accordingly, the Trust currently conducts creations and redemptions of Shares pursuant to In-Kind Orders and Cash Orders (each as described herein). See “Item 1A. Risk Factors—Risk Factors Related to the Trust and the Shares—The limited ability to facilitate in-kind creations and redemptions of Shares could have adverse consequences for the Trust” for more information.
As of the date of this filing, the Sponsor, on behalf of the Trust, and the Transfer Agent entered into Participant Agreements with [Jane Street Capital, LLC, Virtu Americas LLC, Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc., ABN AMRO Clearing USA LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC], pursuant to which such entities have agreed to act as Authorized Participants, and are able to conduct creations and redemptions pursuant to Cash Orders. In addition, as of the date of this filing, [] is able to conduct creations and redemptions in-kind. The Sponsor may engage additional Authorized Participants who are unaffiliated with the Trust in the future, and such Authorized Participants may be able to conduct creations and redemptions in-kind, in cash, or both.
No Authorized Participant has any obligation or responsibility to the Sponsor or the Trust to effect any sale or resale of Shares.
The following disclosure shall be incorporated by reference into the section titled “Item 1. Business” and shall update the existing section titled “Item 1. Business—Description of the Shares—Redemptions and Distributions” in the Annual Report:
Redemptions and Distributions
Through its redemption program, the Trust may redeem Shares from Authorized Participants on an ongoing basis. Although the Trust redeems Baskets only by distributing Bitcoin or proceeds from the disposition of Bitcoin, Authorized Participants may choose to submit Cash Orders, pursuant to which the Authorized Participant will accept cash from the Cash Account in connection with the redemption of Baskets. Cash Orders will be facilitated by the Transfer Agent and Grayscale Investments Sponsors, LLC, which will engage one or more Liquidity Providers that is not an agent of, or otherwise acting on behalf of, any Authorized Participant receiving Bitcoin in connection with such orders. The Trust may also redeem Baskets via In-Kind Orders, pursuant to which an Authorized Participant or its AP Designee will deposit Bitcoin directly with the Trust or receive Bitcoin directly from the Trust.
In addition, if the Trust is terminated and liquidated, the Sponsor 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. See “—Description of the Trust Agreement—Termination of the Trust.” 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.
The following disclosures revise the corresponding risk factors previously included in the section titled “Item 1. Business—Risk Factors” in the Annual Report and, as revised, shall be incorporated by reference therein:
Any suspension or other unavailability of the Trust’s redemption program may cause the Shares to trade at a discount to the NAV per Share.
Although the Sponsor has commenced the Trust’s redemption program in conjunction with the listing of the Shares on NYSE Arca, as a result of which Authorized Participants have been able to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities when the market value of the Shares deviated from the NAV per Share to reduce premiums or discounts to NAV per Share, there can be no assurance that the Trust’s redemption program will not be suspended or become unavailable in the future. In addition, if the Sponsor decides to limit Cash Orders at a time when the Shares are trading at a premium or a discount to the NAV per Share, and In-Kind Orders are unavailable for any reason, the arbitrage mechanism may fail to effectively function, which could impact the Shares’ liquidity and/or cause the Shares to trade at premiums and discounts to the NAV per Share, and otherwise have a negative impact on the value of the Shares.
The limited ability to facilitate in-kind creations and redemptions of Shares could have adverse consequences for the Trust.
Authorized participants must be registered broker-dealers. Registered broker-dealers are subject to various requirements of the federal securities laws and rules, including financial responsibility rules such as the customer protection rule, the net capital rule and recordkeeping requirements. Although the SEC recently approved orders to permit in-kind creations and redemptions by authorized participants for certain spot digital asset ETP shares, there has yet to be definitive regulatory guidance on and the specific details of how registered broker-dealers can comply with these rules with regard to transacting in or holding spot Bitcoin. In particular, registered broker-dealers participating in the in-kind creation or redemption of Shares for Bitcoin will need to ensure that they can demonstrate compliance with applicable financial responsibility rules.
While compliance with such requirements would be the broker-dealer’s responsibility, a national securities exchange is required to enforce compliance by its member broker-dealers with applicable federal securities law and rules. Only certain Authorized Participants, at present, have the ability to also, through their affiliates, support in-kind creation and redemption activity pursuant to the terms of their participant
agreements with the Trust. As of the date of this filing, [] has executed an agreement providing it with the ability to conduct creations and redemptions in-kind for Bitcoin in addition to conducting creations and redemptions for cash. The Sponsor may engage additional Authorized Participants who are unaffiliated with the Trust in the future, and such Authorized Participants may be able to conduct creations and redemptions in-kind, in cash, or both.
Even with the approval of in-kind creations and redemptions, the Trust’s limited ability to facilitate in-kind creations and redemptions could result in the exchange-traded product arbitrage mechanism failing to function as efficiently as it otherwise would, leading to the potential for the Shares to trade at premiums or discounts to the NAV per Share, and such premiums or discounts could be substantial. Furthermore, if Cash Orders are unavailable, either due to the Sponsor’s decision to reject or suspend such orders or otherwise, Authorized Participants may be limited in their ability to redeem or create Shares, in which case the arbitrage mechanism may not function as efficiently. This could result in impaired liquidity for the Shares, wider bid/ask spreads in secondary trading of the Shares and greater costs to investors and other market participants. In addition, the Trust’s limited ability to facilitate in-kind creations and redemptions, and resulting relative reliance on cash creations and redemptions, could cause the Sponsor to halt or suspend the creation of redemption of Shares during times of market volatility or turmoil, among other consequences.
Further, there can be no assurance that additional broker-dealers would be willing to serve as Authorized Participants with respect to the in-kind creation and redemption of Shares. Any of these factors could adversely affect the performance of the Trust and the value of the Shares.
The treatment of the Trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes is uncertain.
The Sponsor intends to take the position that the Trust is properly treated as a grantor trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Assuming that the Trust is a grantor trust, the Trust will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax. Rather, if the Trust is a grantor trust, each beneficial owner of Shares will be treated as directly owning its pro rata share of the Trust’s assets and a pro rata portion of the Trust’s income, gains, losses and deductions will “flow through” to each beneficial owner of Shares.
The Sponsor has committed to cause the Trust to irrevocably abandon any Incidental Rights and IR Virtual Currency to which the Trust may become entitled in the future. In furtherance of that commitment, the Prime Broker Agreement provides that the Trust is irrevocably abandoning, effective immediately prior to each Creation Time or Redemption Time, all Incidental Rights or IR Virtual Currency to which it would otherwise be entitled as of such time and with respect to which it has not taken any Affirmative Action at or prior to such time. There can be no complete assurance that these abandonments will be treated as effective for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If the Trust were treated as owning any asset other than Bitcoin as of any date on which it creates or redeems Shares, it might cease to qualify as a grantor trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
In addition, at this time the Trust is permitted to create or redeem Shares pursuant to In-Kind Orders and Cash Orders. In general, investment vehicles intended to be treated as grantor trusts for U.S. federal income tax purposes historically have created additional trust interests only in kind, and there is no authority directly addressing whether a grantor trust may create or redeem trust interests under procedures similar to those that govern Cash Orders. Accordingly, there can be no complete assurance that the creation or redemption of Shares under the procedures governing Cash Orders will not cause the Trust to fail to qualify as a grantor trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Moreover, because of the evolving nature of digital assets, it is not possible to predict potential future developments that may arise with respect to digital assets, including forks, airdrops and other similar occurrences. Assuming that the Trust is currently a grantor trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes, certain future developments could render it impossible, or impracticable, for the Trust to continue to be treated as a grantor trust for such purposes.
If the Trust is not properly classified as a grantor trust, the Trust might be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. However, due to the uncertain treatment of digital assets for U.S. federal income tax purposes (as discussed above in “Item 1. Business-Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences-Uncertainty Regarding the U.S. Federal Income Tax Treatment of Digital Assets”), there can
be no assurance in this regard. If the Trust were classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the tax consequences of owning Shares generally would not be materially different from the tax consequences described herein, although there might be certain differences, including with respect to timing of the recognition of taxable income or loss. In addition, tax information reports provided to beneficial owners of Shares would be made in a different form. If the Trust were not classified as either a grantor trust or a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, it would be classified as a corporation for such purposes. In that event, the Trust would be subject to entity-level U.S. federal income tax (currently at the rate of 21%) on its net taxable income and certain distributions made by the Trust to shareholders would be treated as taxable dividends to the extent of the Trust’s current and accumulated earnings and profits. Any such dividend distributed to a beneficial owner of Shares that is a non-U.S. person for U.S. federal income tax purposes would be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax at a rate of 30% (or such lower rate as provided in an applicable tax treaty). As a result, the taxation of the Trust as a corporation could materially reduce the after-tax return on an investment in Shares, and substantially reduce the value of the Shares, and result in a material divergence between NAV and the value of the Trust’s Bitcoin.
The treatment of digital assets for U.S. federal income tax purposes is uncertain.
As discussed in the section entitled “Item 1. Business-Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences-Uncertainty Regarding the U.S. Federal Income Tax Treatment of Digital Assets” above, assuming that the Trust is properly treated as a grantor trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes, each beneficial owner of Shares will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as the owner of an undivided interest in the Bitcoin (and, if applicable, any Incidental Rights and/or IR Virtual Currency) held in the Trust. Due to the new and evolving nature of digital assets and the absence of comprehensive guidance with respect to digital assets, many significant aspects of the U.S. federal income tax treatment of digital assets are uncertain.
In 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released a notice (the “Notice”) discussing certain aspects of “convertible virtual currency” (that is, digital assets that have an equivalent value in fiat currency or that act as substitutes for fiat currency) for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, in particular, stating that such digital assets (i) are “property” (ii) are not currency” for purposes of the rules relating to foreign currency gain or loss and (iii) may be held as a capital asset. In 2019, the IRS released a revenue ruling and a set of “Frequently Asked Questions” that has been updated from time to time since (the “Ruling & FAQs”). The Ruling & FAQs provide some additional guidance, including guidance to the effect that, under certain circumstances, hard forks of digital assets are taxable events giving rise to ordinary income and guidance with respect to the determination of the tax basis of digital assets. However, the Notice and the Ruling & FAQs do not address other significant aspects of the U.S. federal income tax treatment of digital assets. Moreover, although the Ruling & FAQs address the treatment of hard forks, there continues to be uncertainty with respect to the timing and amount of the income inclusions. While the Ruling & FAQs do not address most situations in which airdrops occur, it is clear from the reasoning of the Ruling & FAQs that the IRS generally would treat an airdrop as a taxable event giving rise to ordinary income.
There can be no assurance that the IRS will not alter its position with respect to digital assets in the future or that a court would uphold the treatment set forth in the Notice and the Ruling & FAQs. It is also unclear what additional guidance on the treatment of digital assets for U.S. federal income tax purposes may be issued in the future. Any such alteration of the current IRS positions or additional guidance could result in adverse tax consequences for shareholders and could have an adverse effect on the value of Bitcoin. Future developments that may arise with respect to digital assets may increase the uncertainty with respect to the treatment of digital assets for U.S. federal income tax purposes. For example, the Notice addresses only digital assets that are “convertible virtual currency,” and it is conceivable that, as a result of a fork, airdrop or similar occurrence, the Trust could hold certain types of digital assets that are not within the scope of the Notice, in the event the Sponsor seeks to change the Trust’s policy with respect to Incidental Rights or IR Virtual Currency, subject to NYSE Arca obtaining regulatory approval from the SEC.
Shareholders are urged to consult their tax advisers regarding the tax consequences of owning and disposing of Shares and digital assets in general.
A U.S. tax-exempt shareholder may recognize “unrelated business taxable income” as a consequence of an investment in Shares.
Under the guidance provided in the Ruling & FAQs, hard forks, airdrops and similar occurrences with respect to digital assets will under certain circumstances be treated as taxable events giving rise to ordinary income. In the absence of guidance to the contrary, it is possible that any such income recognized by a U.S. tax-exempt shareholder would constitute “unrelated business taxable income” (“UBTI”). A tax-exempt shareholder should consult its tax adviser regarding whether such shareholder may recognize UBTI as a consequence of an investment in Shares. See “Item 1. Business-Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences.”
The following disclosure revises the disclosure previously included in the section titled “Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities—Market Information” in the Annual Report and, as revised, shall be incorporated by reference therein:
Market Information
The Sponsor, on behalf of the Trust, and the Transfer Agent entered into Participant Agreements with a number of unaffiliated Authorized Participants in connection with the approval of NYSE Arca’s application under Rule 19b-4 of the Exchange Act. As of the date of this filing, [Jane Street Capital, LLC, Virtu Americas LLC, Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc., ABN AMRO Clearing USA LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC] have agreed to act as Authorized Participants and are able to conduct creations and redemptions pursuant to Cash Orders. In addition, as of the date of this filing, [] is able to conduct creations and redemptions in-kind. The Shares are listed on NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol “BTC.”
The following disclosure revises the disclosure previously included in the section titled “Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence—Authorized Participants” in the Annual Report and, as revised, shall be incorporated by reference therein:
Authorized Participants
Effective July 31, 2024, the Sponsor, on behalf of the Trust, and the Transfer Agent entered into Participant Agreements with [Jane Street Capital, LLC, Virtu Americas LLC, Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc., ABN AMRO Clearing USA LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC], pursuant to which such entities have agreed to act as Authorized Participants and are able to conduct creations and redemptions pursuant to Cash Orders. In addition, as of the date of this filing, [] is able to conduct creations and redemptions in-kind. The Sponsor may engage additional Authorized Participants who are unaffiliated with the Trust in the future.
Each of the following terms had the meaning previously set forth in the “Glossary of Defined Terms” in the Annual Report and, as revised below, shall replace and supersede such meanings and shall be incorporated by reference into, and supplement, the definitions in the “Glossary of Defined Terms” in the Annual Report:
“AP Designee”—An Authorized Participant’s designee in connection with In-Kind Orders.
“Authorized Participant”—Certain eligible financial institutions that have entered into an agreement with the Trust and the Sponsor concerning the creation or redemption of Shares. Each Authorized Participant (i) is a registered broker-dealer, (ii) has entered into a Participant Agreement with the Sponsor and the Transfer Agent and (iii) in the case of creations or redemptions through In-Kind Orders, must also own, or their AP Designee (as defined above) must own, an Bitcoin wallet address that is known to the Custodian as belonging to the Authorized Participant or its AP Designee and maintain an account with the Custodian.
“In-Kind Order”—An order for the creation or redemption of Shares pursuant to which the Authorized Participant (or its AP Designee) will deliver or receive Bitcoin directly from the Trust’s Vault Balance.
“Liquidity Provider”—One or more eligible companies that facilitate the purchase and sale of Bitcoin in connection with creations or redemptions pursuant to Cash Orders. The Liquidity Providers with which Grayscale Investments Sponsors, LLC, acting in its capacity as the Liquidity Engager, will engage in Bitcoin transactions are third parties that are not affiliated with the Sponsor or the Trust and are not acting as agents of the Trust, the Sponsor, or any Authorized Participant, but may be affiliated with the Authorized Participant, and all transactions will be done on an arms-length basis. Except for the contractual relationships between each Liquidity Provider and Grayscale Investments Sponsors, LLC in its capacity as the Liquidity Engager, there is no contractual relationship between each Liquidity Provider and the Trust or the Sponsor.
“Participant Agreement”—An agreement entered into by an Authorized Participant with the Sponsor and the Transfer Agent that provides the procedures for the creation and redemption of Baskets.
The following terms shall be removed from the definitions in the “Glossary of Defined Terms” in the Annual Report:
“In-Kind Regulatory Approval”—The necessary regulatory approval to permit NYSE Arca to list the Shares of the Trust utilizing a structure that allows the Trust to create and redeem Shares via in-kind transactions with Authorized Participants or their AP Designees in exchange for Bitcoin. In common with other spot digital asset exchange-traded products, the Trust is not at this time able to create and redeem shares via in-kind transactions with Authorized Participants, and there has yet to be definitive regulatory guidance on whether and how registered broker-dealers can hold and deal in Bitcoin in compliance with the federal securities laws. To the extent further regulatory clarity emerges, the Sponsor expects NYSE Arca to seek the necessary regulatory approval to amend its listing rules to permit the Trust to create and redeem Shares through In-Kind Orders. There can be no assurance as to when such regulatory clarity will emerge, or when NYSE Arca will seek or obtain such regulatory approval, if at all.