Company: BTC
Filing Date: 2025-04-01
Form Type: POS AM
Source: 0001193125-25-070549
Chunk: 79

Company: Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF
Filing Date: 2025-04-01
Form: POS AM
Chunk 79
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 to a handful of promoters that their digital assets are not securities. On the other hand, the SEC has brought enforcement actions against the issuers and promoters of several other digital assets
on the basis that the digital assets in question are securities. More recently, the SEC has also brought enforcement actions against Digital Asset Trading Platforms for operating unregistered securities exchanges on the basis that certain of the
digital assets traded on their platforms are securities.

Whether a digital asset is a security, or offers and sales of a digital asset
are securities transactions under the federal securities laws depends on whether it is included in the lists of instruments making up the definition of

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“security” in the Securities Act, the Exchange Act and the Investment Company Act. Digital assets as such do not appear in any of these lists, although each list includes the terms
“investment contract” and “note,” and the SEC has typically analyzed whether a particular digital asset is a security or the offer and sale of a digital asset is a securities transaction by reference to whether it meets the tests
developed by the federal courts interpreting these terms, known as the Howey and Reves tests, respectively. For many digital assets, whether or not the Howeyor Reves tests are met is difficult to resolve definitively,
and substantial legal arguments can often be made both in favor of and against a particular digital asset qualifying as a security or a particular offer and sale of a digital asset qualifying as a securities transaction under one or both of the
Howey and Reves tests. Adding to the complexity, the SEC staff has indicated that the security status of a particular digital asset can change over time as the relevant facts evolve, though recent arguments advanced in ongoing litigation may suggest
that the SEC no longer believes the status of a digital asset can change over time.

As part of determining whether Bitcoin is a security
or a transaction in Bitcoin by the Sponsor is a securities transaction, for purposes of the federal securities laws, the Sponsor takes into account a number of factors, including the various definitions of “security” under the federal
securities laws and federal court decisions interpreting elements of these definitions, such as the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in the Howey and Reves cases, and their progeny, as well as reports, orders, press releases, public
statements and speeches by the SEC, its commissioners and its staff providing guidance on when a digital asset may be a security or when an offer and sale of a digital asset may be a securities transaction for purposes of the federal securities
laws