Company: HODL
Filing Date: 2025-03-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000930413-25-000995
Chunk: 177

Company: VanEck Bitcoin ETF
Filing Date: 2025-03-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 177
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 addition, a bad actor could also attempt
to interfere with the operation of the Bitcoin network by attempting to exercise a malign influence over a core developer. To
the extent that material issues arise with the Bitcoin network protocol and the core developers and open-source contributors are
unable to address the issues adequately or in a timely manner, the Bitcoin network and an investment in the Trust may be adversely
affected.

A temporary or permanent “fork”
of the bitcoin blockchain could adversely affect an investment in the Trust. Shareholders will not receive the benefits of any
forks or airdrops.

Bitcoin software is open source. Any user
can download the software, modify it and then propose that the core developers, users and miners adopt the modification. When
a modification is introduced by the core developers and a substantial majority of users and miners consent to the modification,
the change is implemented and the Bitcoin network continues to operate uninterrupted on a single blockchain. However, if less
than a substantial majority of users and miners consent to the proposed modification, but the modification is nonetheless implemented
by some users and miners and the modification is not compatible with the software prior to its modification, the consequence would
be what is known as a “fork” (i.e., “split”) of the Bitcoin network (and the blockchain), with one version
running the pre-modified software and the other running the modified software. The effect of such a fork would be the existence
of two (or more) versions of the Bitcoin network running in parallel, but with each version’s bitcoin lacking interchangeability,
and with different blockchains. Such a fork in the Bitcoin Blockchain typically would be addressed by community-led efforts to
merge the forked Bitcoin Blockchains, and several prior forks have been so merged. Since the Bitcoin network’s inception,
modifications to the Bitcoin network have generally been accepted by the majority of users and miners, ensuring that the Bitcoin
network remains a coherent economic system and the focal point of the majority of developer activity. There is no assurance, however,
that this will continue to be the case, and if it is not, then the price of bitcoin could be negatively affected. The original
blockchain and the forked blockchain could potentially compete with each other for users, developers, and miners, leading to a
loss of these for the original blockchain. A fork of any kind could adversely affect an investment in the Trust or the ability
of the Trust to operate and the Trust’s procedures may be inadequate to address the effects of a fork.

Additionally, a