Company: HODL
Filing Date: 2025-11-13
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0000930413-25-003438
Chunk: 82

Company: VanEck Bitcoin ETF
Filing Date: 2025-11-13
Form: 10-Q
Item: Part I, Item 2
Chunk 82
---
currency (“CVC”) to register with FinCEN as a money transmitter and comply with the anti- money laundering regulations
applicable to money transmitters. Entities which fail to comply with such regulations are subject to fines, may be required to
cease operations, and could have potential criminal liability. For example, in 2015, FinCEN assessed a $700,000 fine against a
sponsor of a digital asset for violating several requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act by acting as an MSB and selling the digital
asset without registering with FinCEN, and by failing to implement and maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program. In 2017,
FinCEN assessed a $110 million fine against BTC-e, a now defunct digital asset exchange, for similar violations. The requirement
that exchangers that do business in the United States register with FinCEN and comply with anti- money laundering regulations may
increase the cost of buying and selling bitcoin and therefore may adversely affect the price of bitcoin and an investment in the
Shares.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) of the U.S.
Department of the Treasury (the “U.S. Treasury Department”) has added digital currency addresses, including addresses
on the Bitcoin Blockchain, to the list of Specially Designated Nationals whose assets are blocked, and with whom U.S. persons are
generally prohibited from dealing. Such actions by OFAC, or by similar organizations in other jurisdictions, may introduce uncertainty
in the market as to whether bitcoin that has been associated with such addresses in the past can be easily sold. This “tainted”
bitcoin may trade at a substantial discount to untainted bitcoin. Reduced fungibility in the bitcoin markets may reduce the liquidity
of bitcoin and therefore adversely affect their price.

In February 2020, then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated
that digital assets were a “crucial area” on which the U.S. Treasury Department has spent significant time. Secretary
Mnuchin announced that the U.S. Treasury Department is preparing significant new regulations governing digital asset activities
to address concerns regarding the potential use for facilitating money laundering and other illicit activities. In December 2020,
FinCEN, a bureau within the U.S. Treasury Department, proposed a rule that would require financial institutions to submit reports,
keep records, and verify the identity of customers for certain transactions to or

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from so-called “unhosted” wallets, also commonly referred
to as self