Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stock holder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Market Information
Prior to October 3, 2022, Shares were distributed by Genesis, acting as the sole Authorized Participant, through sales in private placement transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act pursuant to Rule 506(c) thereunder. Since October 3, 2022, Grayscale Securities has been the only acting Authorized Participant of the Trust, and Liquidity Provider(s) have been engaged to source ETH in connection with the creation of Shares. The Shares are quoted on OTCQX under the ticker symbol “ETHE.” Over-the-counter market quotations reflect inter-dealer prices, without retail mark-up, mark-down or commission and may not necessarily represent actual transactions.
Holders of Record
As of December 31, 2023, there were approximately 25 holders of record. This includes Cede & Co. as nominee for DTC for the Shares traded on OTCQX, but not its direct participants. Therefore, this number does not include the individual holders who have bought Shares on OTCQX or transferred their eligible Shares to their brokerage accounts. Because most of the Trust’s Shares are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of shareholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of shareholders represented by these record holders.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Shares
As of December 31, 2023, the Registrant has distributed 310,158,500 Shares at varying prices determined by reference to the NAV per Share to selected “accredited investors,” within the meaning of Rule 501 of Regulation D under the Securities Act. The Shares were sold in connection with an ongoing offering pursuant to Rule 506(c) of Regulation D under the Securities Act. Genesis acted as the Authorized Participant with respect to these distributions. In exchange for these sales, the Trust received an aggregate of 3,240,485.90155110 ETH. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Registrant did not distribute any Shares. Because Shares have been, and continue to be, created and issued on a periodic basis, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act, may be occurring from time to time. As a result, the Authorized Participant facilitating the creation of Shares and acting as a distributor and marketer during any such period may be deemed an “underwriter” under Section 2(a)(11) of the Securities Act. No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid to the Authorized Participant with respect to such sales.
Purchases of Equity Securities
Purchases of equity securities by the issuer and affiliated purchasers —The table below sets forth information regarding open market purchases of Shares of Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETH) (OTCQX: ETHE) by DCG, the parent company of the Sponsor, on a monthly basis during the three months ended December 31, 2023:
Period
(a) Total Number of Shares of ETHE Purchased
(b) Average Price Paid per Share of ETHE
(c) Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs (1)
(d) Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
(in millions)
October 1, 2023 - October 31, 2023
-
$
-
-
$
200.0
November 1, 2023 - November 30, 2023
-
-
-
200.0
December 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023
-
-
-
200.0
Total
-
$
-
-
$
200.0
(1) On March 2, 2022, the Board approved the purchase by DCG, the parent company of the Sponsor, of up to an aggregate total of $200 million worth of Shares of the Trust and shares of any of the following five investment products the Sponsor also acts as the sponsor and manager of, including Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC) (NYSE Arca: GBTC), Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust (BCH) (OTCQX: BCHG), Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund LLC (OTCQX: GDLC), Grayscale Stellar Lumens Trust (XLM) (OTCQX: GXLM), and Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETC) (OTCQX: ETCG). Subsequently, DCG authorized such purchase. The Share purchase authorization does not obligate DCG to acquire any specific number of Shares in any period, and may be expanded, extended, modified, or discontinued at any time. From March 2, 2022 through December 31, 2023, DCG had not purchased any Shares of the Trust under this authorization.
Item 6. [ R e served]
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Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.