SEC Filing Document

Company: T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF
Ticker: 
CIK: 2089855
Filing Type: S-1/A
Document Type: S-1/A
Date Filed: 2026-04-27
Accession Number: 0001999371-26-009120
Exchange: 
SIC Code: 6221
SIC Description: Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers
URL: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2089855/000199937126009120/activecrypto-s1a_042726.htm

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first halving in November 2012 (at 210,000 blocks), dropping the mining subsidy to 25 bitcoin. The second halving occurred in July 2016 (at 420,000 blocks), dropping the subsidy per block to 12.5 bitcoin. The third halving took place in May 2020 (at 630,000 blocks), dropping the subsidy per block to 6.25 bitcoin. The fourth happened in April 2024 (at 840,000), dropping the subsidy per block to 3.125 bitcoin which will persist until height 1,049,999. By design, the supply of bitcoin is intentionally limited to 21 million units, making bitcoin a disinflationary asset, that is, with a rate of supply growth that decreases over time until reaching zero when the last satoshi is mined. The maximum cap and the disinflationary nature of bitcoin makes it a potential candidate for digital store of value, an investment thesis that is still gaining traction among investors worldwide. Bitcoin Network, Protocol, Clients and Network Upgrades

Bitcoin is maintained on the decentralized,
open source, peer-to-peer computer network, the Bitcoin Network. No single entity owns or operates the Bitcoin Network. The Bitcoin Network
is accessed through software and governs bitcoin’s creation and movement. The source code for the Bitcoin Network, often referred
to as the Bitcoin Protocol, is open-source, and anyone can contribute to its development.

Proof-of-work, the fork choice rule,
the difficulty adjustment and the supply schedule of bitcoin comprise the Bitcoin Protocol, the full set rules that users of the Bitcoin
System must agree on in order to participate in the Bitcoin Network. Implementations of the Bitcoin Protocol are called “Bitcoin
Clients.” These are open-source codes that can be maintained by anyone and used by any individual wishing to join the Bitcoin Network.
Every computer running an instance of a Bitcoin Client is called a node.

The infrastructure of the Bitcoin
Network is collectively maintained by its participants, which include miners, developers, and users. Miners register transactions and
provide security to the Bitcoin Network. Developers maintain and contribute updates to the Bitcoin Clients. Users access the Bitcoin Network
either running their own node or communicating with the node run by a third-party server. Anyone can be a user, developer, or miner, but
not all Bitcoin Network participants need to run a node.

Bitcoin is stored on the bitcoin blockchain,
which contains a complete record and history for each bitcoin transaction.

Miners, who are creating new
bitcoins, use specialized computer software and hardware to solve a highly complex mathematical problem presented by the Bitcoin
Protocol. The first miner to successfully solve the problem is permitted to add a block of transactions to the bitcoin blockchain.
The new block is then confirmed through acceptance by a majority of users who maintain versions of the blockchain on their
individual computers. Miners that successfully add a block to the bitcoin blockchain are automatically rewarded with a fixed amount
of bitcoin for their effort plus any transaction fees paid by transferors whose transactions are recorded in the block. This reward
system is how new bitcoin enters circulation and is the mechanism by which versions of the blockchain held by users on a
decentralized network are kept in consensus.

The Bitcoin Protocol is thus an open-source
project with no official company or group in control, and anyone can review the underlying code for its clients. There are, however, a
number of individual developers that regularly contribute to a specific Bitcoin Client known as the “bitcoin core” (Bitcoin
Core). Developers of the Bitcoin Core loosely oversee the development of the source code. There are many other compatible versions of
the Bitcoin Protocol, but Bitcoin Core is the most widely adopted and currently provides the de facto standard for the Bitcoin Protocol.
Bitcoin Core developers are able to access, and can alter, the client’s source code and, as a result, they are responsible for quasi-official
releases of updates and other changes to the Bitcoin Core. Upgrade proposals to the Bitcoin protocol can be created by any individual
as a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP).

However, due to a lack of central
authority, the release of updates to the Bitcoin Core or other Bitcoin Clients by their developers does not guarantee that the updates
will be automatically adopted by the other network participants. Users and miners must accept any changes made to the source code by downloading
the proposed modification and that modification is effective only with respect to those Bitcoin users and miners who choose to download
it and run. As a practical matter, a modification to the source code becomes part of the Bitcoin Network only if it is accepted by individuals
that collectively form a majority of the Bitcoin Network. If a modification is accepted by only a small percentage of users and miners,
a division will occur such that one network will run the pre-modification source code and the other network will run the modified source
code. Such a division is known as a “hard fork.” To avoid network splits, the Bitcoin community chooses to implement BIPs
via soft forks, which are backward-compatible updates and thus optional in nature, meaning multiple versions of the same Bitcoin Client
can coexist in the Bitcoin Network.

Development of Bitcoin Clients
has increasingly focused on amendments to the Bitcoin Protocol to enhance speed and scalability. For example, in August 2017, a BIP known
as “segregated witness” was adopted in a Bitcoin soft fork. Among other things, it enables so-called second layer solutions,
such as the “Lightning Network,” or payment channels, which could potentially allow greater speed and a greater number of
transactions that the Bitcoin Network can process in a given time interval (i.e., transaction throughput). The Lightning Network is an
open-source decentralized network that enables the instant off-blockchain transfer of bitcoin without requiring a trusted third party.
The Lightning Network uses bidirectional payment channels, which work as follows: an on-blockchain transaction is required to open a channel,
which can later be closed through another on-blockchain transaction. Once a channel is open, value can be transferred instantly between
counterparties engaging in bitcoin transactions without such transactions being broadcasted to the Bitcoin Network. This enables increased
transaction throughput and reduces the computational burden on the Bitcoin Network.

Other uses of segregated witness include
smart contracts (which are programs that automatically execute on a blockchain) and distributed registers built into, built atop, or pegged
alongside the Bitcoin Blockchain. For example, one white paper published by the blockchain technology company Blockstream Corporation
Inc. calls for the use of “pegged sidechains” to develop programming environments built within blockchain ledgers that can
interact with and rely on the security of the Bitcoin Network and blockchain while remaining independent thereof. Applications of this
concept include open-source projects such as RSK (Rootstock), which seeks to create novel open-source smart contract platforms built on
the Bitcoin Blockchain to allow automated, condition-based payments with increased speed and scalability.

Such research and development projects
may utilize bitcoin as tokens for the facilitation of their non-financial uses, thereby potentially increasing demand for bitcoin and
the utility of the Bitcoin Network as a whole. Conversely, to the extent that such projects operate on the Bitcoin Blockchain, they may
increase the data flow on the Bitcoin Network and could either “bloat” the size of the blockchain or result in slower confirmation
times. At this time, such projects remain in early stages and have not been materially integrated into the blockchain or Bitcoin Network.

The latest Bitcoin soft fork known
as “Taproot” was activated in November 2021, introducing a new scheme for digital signatures, enhancing the privacy of more
complex Bitcoin scripts and optimizing block space usage for multi-signature transactions. Taproot has become more prominent since late
2022 with the launch of Bitcoin inscriptions, which uses Taproot functionality to assign pieces of information to distinct satoshis. Also,
Taproot is being used in the implementation of Taproot Assets, a novel programmability layer built on top of Bitcoin that allows users
to create other crypto assets on the Bitcoin Blockchain, while using them at fast speeds and low costs over the Lightning Network. Similar
to the adoption of the Lightning Network, inscriptions and Taproot Assets are still experimental technologies and might be subject to
significant risks.

Bitcoin wallets and transactions

Users of the Bitcoin Network must
either run a Bitcoin Client or use a Bitcoin wallet. To initiate a Bitcoin transaction, users generate one or more unique pairs of private
and public keys, the latter being used to receive funds, and the former to authenticate transactions and send bitcoin. These pairs can
be hierarchically derived from a single set of words known as a seed phrase. As their names suggest, public keys can be safely shared
with anyone in the network, whereas private keys should be kept secret. This is analogous to the use of a bank account, with a public
key similar to the bank identifier and branch number, and the private key the analogue to the account’s transaction password.