Valuation of Ether
The Trust applies FASB ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement, in the valuation of ether held by the Trust and for financial statement purposes.
The fair market value price for ether reflects the price that would be received for ether in a current sale, which assumes an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date of ether on its principal market,
generally, the most advantageous market. Market participants are defined as buyers and sellers in the principal or most advantageous market that are independent, knowledgeable, and willing and able to transact. The Trust determines its principal
market (or in the absence of a principal market the most advantageous market) on a periodic basis to determine which market is its Principal Market for the purpose of calculating fair value for the creation of quarterly and annual financial
statements. Issuer-specific events, market trends, bid/asked quotes of brokers and information providers and other data may be reviewed in the course of making a good faith determination of a securitys fair value.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The
Sponsor is not aware of any known trends, demands, commitments, events or uncertainties that will result in, or are reasonably likely to result in, material changes to the Trusts liquidity and capital resources needs.
The Trust pays the Sponsor a unified fee of 0.25% per annum (the Sponsor Fee) as compensation for services performed under the
Trust Agreement. The Trusts only ordinary recurring expense is the Sponsor Fee. The Sponsor Fee is accrued daily and paid monthly in arrears in U.S. dollars, and is calculated by Bank of New York Mellon (the Administrator). The
Administrator calculates the Sponsor Fee on a daily basis by applying the 0.25% annualized rate to the Trusts total net assets.
Except as noted below, the Sponsor has agreed to pay all of the Trusts ordinary expenses out of the Sponsors unified fee,
including, but not limited to, the Trustees fees, the fees of The Bank of New York Mellon (for its services as the Administrator, Transfer Agent, and Cash Custodian), the fees of the Ether Custodian, the fees of the Execution Agent, Exchange
listing fees, SEC registration fees, printing and mailing costs, legal costs and audit fees. The Sponsor also paid the costs of the Trusts organization.
The Trust may incur certain extraordinary expenses that are not assumed by the Sponsor. These include, but are not limited to, taxes and
governmental charges, any applicable brokerage commissions, financing fees, Ethereum network fees and similar transaction fees, expenses and costs of any extraordinary services performed by the Sponsor (or any other service provider) on behalf of
the Trust to protect the Trust or the interests of Shareholders (including, for example, in connection with any fork of the Ethereum blockchain), any indemnification of the Sponsor, Cash Custodian, Ethereum Custodian, Administrator or other agents,
service providers or counterparties of the Trust and extraordinary legal fees and expenses, including any legal fees and expenses incurred in connection with litigation, regulatory enforcement or investigation matters.
To cover the Sponsor Fee, and extraordinary expenses not assumed by the Sponsor, the Sponsor or its delegate will cause the Trust (or its
delegate) to instruct Galaxy Digital Funds LLC (the Execution Agent) to convert ether held by the Trust into U.S. dollars. The Execution Agent will seek to sell ether at approximately the price at which it is valued by the Trust and in
the smallest amounts required to permit such payments as they become due, with the intention of minimizing the Trusts holdings of assets other than ether. Accordingly, the amount of ether to be sold may vary from time to time depending on the
level of the Trusts expenses and liabilities and the market price of ether. The NAV of the Trust and the number of ether represented by a Share will decline each time the Trust accrues the Sponsor Fee or any Trust expenses not assumed by the
Sponsor. The Trust is not responsible for paying any costs associated with the transfer of ether to or from the Trust in connection with paying the Sponsor Fee or in connection with creation and redemption transactions.
The Trust has not entered into any off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely
to have a current or future effect on the Trusts financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources and would be considered material to
Shareholders.
Cash Flows
A primary
cash flow activity of the Trust is to raise capital from Authorized Participants through the issuance of Shares. This cash is used to invest in ether.
As of the date of this Report, each of ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago LLC, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, Citadel Securities LLC, Goldman
Sachs & Co., Jane Street Capital LLC, Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc. and Virtu Americas LLC has executed a Participant Agreement and are the only Authorized Participants.
Results of Operations
FOR THE PERIOD
JULY 23, 2024 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
The following graph illustrates the percentage changes in (i) the market price of
the Shares (as reflected by the line Market), (ii) the Trusts NAV (as reflected by the line NAV), and (iii) the closing levels of the Benchmark (as reflected by the line Lukka Prime Reference Rate
(USD)). There can be no assurances that the price of the Shares or the Trusts NAV will exceed the Benchmark levels.
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