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HODL supplier relationships

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HODL supplier relationship map

HODL (VanEck Bitcoin Trust) — supplier relationships, operational posture and risk map

VanEck’s Bitcoin Trust (ticker HODL) is a single-asset trust that holds bitcoin on behalf of public shareholders, issues tradable shares and monetizes through a Sponsor Fee (0.20% of average daily net assets) that accrues daily and is paid monthly; VanEck has also used promotional fee waivers (waived until $2.5bn through Jan 10, 2026) to attract flows. The Trust’s operating model is heavily dependent on third‑party service providers — custodians, market data and execution venues — that are central to creation/redemption mechanics and NAV calculation. For an investor evaluating counterparty risk, the critical questions are concentrated custody exposure, index governance and the reliability of liquidity plumbing.
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How HODL is structured in practice and where the economics sit

VanEck, as Sponsor, controls the Trust’s governance, pricing sources and selection of service providers. The Trust pays the Sponsor a usage-based fee (0.20% of AUM) and relies on a framework of custody and clearing agreements that enable in‑kind and cash creations and redemptions; clearing and liquidity flows are executed through selected Liquidity Providers and Authorized Participants. The NAV is calculated to the MarketVector Bitcoin Benchmark Rate at 4:00 p.m. ET, with an intraday indicative value disseminated during trading hours.

  • Contracting posture: a mix of framework agreements (custody/clearing) and usage-based sponsor fees; spot purchases of bitcoin are executed through Liquidity Providers under the Clearing Agreement.
  • Concentration: custody and clearing are concentrated with a small set of large custodians and institutional liquidity providers; this creates interconnectedness and contagion risk.
  • Criticality and maturity: custodians and index administrators are mission‑critical; many are long‑standing financial firms (State Street, Coinbase, MarketVector) but legal and insurance protections are limited relative to traditional asset classes.

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Key takeaways up front

  • Custody and clearing are single points of operational failure — the Bitcoin Custodian (Gemini) and Additional Bitcoin Custodian (Coinbase Custody) are essential to creation/redemption mechanics. (10‑K filings, FY2024)
  • Index and pricing dependence on the MarketVector Bitcoin Benchmark Rate concentrates valuation risk to the index sponsor and its data inputs. (Trading filing, FY2025)
  • Authorized participants and institutional market makers (Jane Street, Virtu, ABN AMRO Clearing) are central to liquidity; their role is routine but critical to arbitrage between NAV and market price. (Decrypt, FY2024)

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Detailed read: every named relationship in the record

Below are plain-English summaries for each relationship mentioned in the materials. Each item is a concise operational read with a source note.

Gemini

Gemini serves as the Trust’s primary Bitcoin Custodian and also provides Clearing Services used in creation and redemption flows; VanEck discloses that Gemini’s role creates interconnectivity risk with other exchange‑traded bitcoin products. (VanEck 10‑K, hodl-2024-12-31, FY2024)

Bullish

Bullish was listed as a constituent trading platform in MarketVector’s platform composition until it was replaced in the benchmark update; this impacts the breadth of price inputs to the index. (The Globe and Mail / Tipranks, Nov 30, 2025; reported FY2025)

Cboe

The VanEck Bitcoin Trust trades on the Cboe exchange (Cboe BZX venue) and the exchange listing is central to the Trust’s market access and secondary liquidity. (Decrypt reporting on ETF applications; TradingView/Cboe listings, FY2024–FY2025)

Van Eck Securities Corporation

Van Eck Securities Corp. functions as the Trust’s Marketing Agent / Distributor responsible for marketing, facilitating purchase/redemption order review and public information dissemination. (TradingView summary of listing material, FY2024)

Van Eck Associates Corp.

Van Eck Associates Corp. is the parent company group; its name appears as issuer/affiliated corporate entity in the Trust structure. (TradingView listing data, FY2024)

Jane Street

Jane Street is named among the Authorized Participants/market makers signed up to support creation and redemption activity, providing two‑way liquidity for the Trust’s shares. (Decrypt coverage of authorized participants, FY2024)

ABN AMRO Clearing

ABN AMRO Clearing is listed as another Authorized Participant, contributing to the institutional plumbing required for creations and redemptions. (Decrypt reporting, FY2024)

Virtu Americas

Virtu Americas is named as an Authorized Participant/market maker supporting the Trust’s secondary market liquidity and arbitrage mechanism. (Decrypt reporting, FY2024)

Coinbase / Coinbase Global

Coinbase serves as the Additional Bitcoin Custodian (and is identified as an affiliate, Coinbase Global, in filings) and is acknowledged as one of the largest custodians with systemic importance for U.S. spot BTC ETPs. (VanEck 10‑K, hodl-2024-12-31, FY2024)

Cboe BZX

Cboe BZX is the listing venue (BZX equities exchange) where the Trust’s shares trade, and is referenced in exchange listing/dealer notices. (Bitget market data / listing note, FY2025)

MarketVector / MarketVector Indexes GmbH

MarketVector (MarketVector Indexes GmbH) is the index sponsor and administrator for the MarketVector Bitcoin Benchmark Rate used to determine NAV; it also manages constituent platform composition. (The Globe and Mail / Tipranks and Trading filings, FY2025)

OKX

OKX was added as a constituent trading platform in the MarketVector benchmark composition, becoming one of the pricing inputs used to compute the MarketVector index. (The Globe and Mail / Tipranks, Nov 30, 2025; FY2025)

Bitstamp

Bitstamp was previously a constituent and was replaced in the MarketVector composition as part of the November 30, 2025 update — an index‑composition change that alters price inputs. (The Globe and Mail / Tipranks, FY2025)

Crypto.com

Crypto.com was added to MarketVector’s platform composition on November 30, 2025 and is now one of the trading platforms that feed the benchmark. (The Globe and Mail / Tipranks, FY2025)

Kraken

Kraken remains one of the trading platforms included in MarketVector’s benchmark composition and thus contributes to the NAV calculus. (The Globe and Mail / Tipranks, FY2025)

MarketVector Bitcoin Benchmark Rate

The Trust’s NAV is explicitly tied to the MarketVector Bitcoin Benchmark Rate, which is calculated and used day‑end at 4:00 p.m. ET and underpins valuation and sponsor fee computations. (TradingView / SEC filing summary, FY2025)

Bitget (referencing listing info)

Bitget’s market reporting referenced the Trust’s Cboe BZX listing and fee structure in market data summaries used by trading terminals. (Bitget published notes on listings, FY2025)

CoinGecko (reference)

CoinGecko’s ETF list referenced VanEck’s HODL holdings and reported the Trust’s approximate bitcoin holdings and percent allocation as of the reporting snapshot. (CoinGecko ETF listing page, FY2025)

Additional notes on VanEck / issuer

VanEck is the issuer and Sponsor of the Trust and holds a minority equity interest in the parent company of Gemini (under 1%); VanEck’s organizational role gives it exclusive authority to select service providers and valuation methods. (VanEck 10‑K / issuer materials, FY2024)

Constraints, operational signals and what they imply for counterparties

The filings and disclosures together present a compact set of operating signals:

  • Framework contracts underlie operations: custody and clearing relationships are governed by formal Custody, Additional Custody and Clearing Agreements that define service levels and limited liability caps — this is a framework relationship, not ad hoc trading. (Company 10‑K excerpts, FY2024)
  • Usage-based economics at the sponsor level: the Sponsor Fee is calculated as a percentage of AUM and paid monthly, aligning revenue with asset growth and incentivizing scale. (10‑K, FY2024)
  • Spot execution is operationally required: the Trust’s creation model contemplates executing spot trades with Liquidity Providers to secure Basket Deposits, so execution counterparties must be capable of large, timely BTC transfers. (10‑K operational mechanics, FY2024)
  • Counterparty concentration is high and counterparty types are large enterprises: major custodians and trading platforms are named repeatedly and the Trust holds hundreds of millions in bitcoin with those custodians (over $1bn with Gemini at Dec 31, 2024), making counterparties systemic to the Trust’s operation. (10‑K balances, FY2024)
  • Materiality = critical: failures of custodians, index mis‑pricing, banking relationships or Authorized Participant capacity are all described as potentially material and could force redemption suspensions or liquidation. (10‑K risk disclosures, FY2024)

These constraints should be read as company-level signals that define HODL’s contracting posture, concentration risk and operational criticality.

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Final read for investors and operators

HODL’s economics are simple, but the operating model is complex and highly dependent on a handful of regulated custodians, an index administrator and institutional liquidity providers. Operational resilience hinges on custody and index integrity rather than on fee structure alone. For institutional counterparties and ops teams, prioritize continuous assurance on custodial controls, timely settlement performance from liquidity providers and governance of MarketVector’s index inputs.

For an operational-grade supplier assessment and on‑going alerts on these counterparties, visit https://nullexposure.com/ — we map contractual roles, concentration and criticality so you can convert disclosure into actionable risk controls.