Company: HODL
Filing Date: 2025-03-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000930413-25-000995
Chunk: 246

Company: VanEck Bitcoin ETF
Filing Date: 2025-03-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 246
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 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
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 from so-called “unhosted”
wallets, also commonly referred to as self-hosted wallets. In January 2021, U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen stated
her belief that regulators should “look closely at how to encourage the use of digital assets for legitimate activities
while curtailing their use for malign and illegal activities.”

Under regulations from the NYDFS, businesses involved
in digital asset business activity for third parties in or involving New York, excluding merchants and consumers, must apply for
a license, commonly known as a BitLicense, from the NYDFS and must comply

64

with anti-money laundering, cybersecurity, consumer
protection, and financial and reporting requirements, among others. As an alternative to a BitLicense, a firm can apply for a
charter to become a limited purpose trust company under New York law qualified to engage in certain digital