7. Related Parties

The Trust considered the following entities, their directors, and certain employees to be related parties of the Trust as of June 30, 2026: DCG, GSO, GSIS and Grayscale Securities, LLC. As of both June 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, 3,700 Shares of the Trust were held by related parties of the Trust.

In accordance with the Trust Agreement governing the Trust, the Trust pays a fee to the Sponsor, calculated as 2.5% of the aggregate value of the Trust’s assets, less its liabilities (which include any accrued but unpaid expenses up to, but excluding, the date of calculation), as calculated and published by the Sponsor or its delegates in the manner set forth in the Trust Agreement (the “Sponsor’s Fee”). The Sponsor’s Fee accrues daily in U.S. dollars and is payable in Ether, daily in arrears. The amount of Ether payable in respect of each daily U.S. dollar accrual will be determined by reference to the same U.S. dollar value of Ether used to determine such accrual. For purposes of these financial statements, the U.S. dollar value of Ether is determined by reference to the Digital Asset Trading Platform Market that the Trust considers its principal market as of 4:00 p.m., New York time, on each valuation date. The Trust held no Incidental Rights or IR Virtual Currency as of June 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025. No Incidental Rights or IR Virtual Currencies have been distributed in payment of the Sponsor’s Fee during the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025.

Pursuant to the Staking Arrangements, the Custodian and the applicable Staking Provider are entitled to receive a portion of the gross staking rewards generated thereunder, representing the Custodian’s fee and the Staking Provider’s share of such staking rewards (collectively, the “Validator Fees”), with the remaining staking rewards received by the Trust. The Sponsor is entitled to receive a fee equal to a portion of the staking rewards, payable in Ether, which accrues daily in U.S. dollars and is calculated as a per annum percentage of the staking rewards received by the Trust, as directed by the Sponsor in its sole discretion (the “Sponsor’s Staking Fee”). The Sponsor’s Staking Fee is payable daily in arrears. The Sponsor’s Staking Fee and the Validator Fees together represent an aggregate of 23% of the gross staking rewards generated under the Staking Arrangements. A portion of the gross staking rewards is paid to non-related parties and the Trust receives and retains the remainder of such gross staking rewards.

As partial consideration for receipt of the Sponsor’s Fee, the Sponsor is obligated under the Trust Agreement to assume and pay all fees and other expenses incurred by the Trust in the ordinary course of its affairs, excluding taxes, but including marketing fees; administrator fees, if any; custodian fees; transfer agent fees; trustee fees; the fees and expenses related to the listing, quotation or trading of the Shares on any secondary market (including customary legal, marketing and audit fees and expenses) in an amount up to $600,000 in any given fiscal year; ordinary course legal fees and expenses; audit fees; regulatory fees, including, if applicable, any fees relating to the registration of the Shares under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act; printing and mailing costs; the costs of maintaining the Trust’s website and applicable license fees (together, the “Sponsor-paid Expenses”), provided that any expense that qualifies as an Additional Trust Expense will be deemed to be an Additional Trust Expense and not a Sponsor-paid Expense.

The Trust may incur certain extraordinary, non-recurring expenses that are not Sponsor-paid Expenses, including, but not limited to, taxes and governmental charges, expenses and costs of any extraordinary services performed by the Sponsor (or any other service provider) on behalf of the Trust to protect the Trust or the interests of shareholders, any indemnification of the Custodian or other agents, service providers or counterparties of the Trust, the fees and expenses related to the listing, quotation or trading of the Shares on any secondary market (including legal, marketing and audit fees and expenses) to the extent exceeding $600,000 in any given fiscal year and extraordinary legal fees and expenses, including any legal fees and expenses incurred in connection with litigation, regulatory enforcement or investigation matters (collectively “Additional Trust Expenses”). In such circumstances, the Sponsor or its delegate (i) will instruct the Custodian to withdraw from the Vault Balance Ether in such quantity as may be necessary to permit payment of such Additional Trust Expenses and (ii) may either (x) cause the Trust (or its delegate) to convert such Ether into U.S. dollars or other fiat currencies at the Actual Exchange Rate or (y) when the Sponsor incurs such expenses on behalf of the Trust, cause the Trust (or its delegate) to deliver such Ether in kind to the Sponsor, in each case in such quantity as may be necessary to permit payment of such Additional Trust Expenses.

For the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, the Trust incurred Sponsor’s Fees of $10,371,294 and $15,645,053, respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, the Trust incurred Sponsor’s Fees of $23,348,412 and $37,444,656, respectively. As of June 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, there were no accrued and unpaid Sponsor’s Fees. In addition, the Sponsor may pay Additional Trust Expenses on behalf of the Trust, which are reimbursable by the Trust to the Sponsor. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, the Sponsor did not pay any Additional Trust Expenses on behalf of the Trust.

For the three months ended June 30, 2026, the Trust incurred Sponsor’s Staking Fees of $1,708,566. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, the Trust incurred Sponsor’s Staking Fees of $3,878,001.

On March 2, 2022, the Board of the Sponsor approved the purchase by DCG, the indirect 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 ETF (NYSE Arca: GBTC), Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust (BCH) (OTCQX: BCHG), Grayscale CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF (NYSE Arca: GDLC), Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETC) (OTCQX: ETCG), and Grayscale Stellar Lumens Trust (XLM) (OTCQX: GXLM). 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 June 30, 2026, DCG had not purchased any Shares of the Trust under this authorization.