SLV 10-K & 10-Q changes, risk factors and insider trading

As of the date of this filing, the LBMA Silver Price has been subjected to the test of actual trading markets for over ten11 years. As with any innovation, it is possible that electronic failures or other unanticipated events may occur that could result in delays in the announcement of, or the inability of the system to produce, an LBMA Silver Price on any given day. Furthermore, if a perception were to develop that the LBMA Silver Price is vulnerable to manipulation attempts, or if the administrative proceedings surrounding the determination and publication of the LBMA Silver Price were seen as unfair, biased or otherwise compromised by the markets, the behavior of investors and traders in silver may change, and those changes may have an effect on the price of silver (and, consequently, the value of the Shares). In any of these circumstances, the intervention of extraneous events disruptive of the normal interaction of supply and demand of silver at any given time, may result in distorted prices and losses on an investment in the Shares that, but for such extraneous events, might not have occurred.

Other effects of disruptions in the determination of the LBMA Silver Price or any inaccuracies in setting of the auction prices on the operations of the Trust include the potential for an incorrect valuation of the Trust’s silver, an inaccurate computation of the Sponsor’s fee,fees, and the sales of silver to cover Trust expenses at prices that do not accurately reflect the fundamentals of the silver market. Each of these events could have an adverse effect on the value of the Shares. The operation of the auction process which determines the LBMA Silver Price is also dependent on the continued operation of the LBMA and the IBA and their applicable systems.

As of the date of this filing, the Sponsor has no reason to believe that the LBMA Silver Price (used by the Trust since August 15, 2014 for the daily valuation of its silver and the determination of the Sponsor’s feefees and the price of silver sold to cover Trust expenses) will not fairly represent the price of the silver held by the Trust. Should this situation change, the Sponsor expects to use the powers granted by the Trust’s governing documents to seek to replace the LBMA Silver Price with a more reliable indicator of the value of the Trust’s silver. There is no assurance that such alternative value indicator will be identified, or that the process of changing from the LBMA Silver Price to a new benchmark price will not adversely affect the price of the Shares.

An investment in the Trust may be deemed speculative and is not intended as a complete investment program. An investment in Shares should be considered only by persons financially able to maintain their investment and who can bear the risk of loss associated with an investment in the Trust. Investors should review closely the objective and strategy of the Trust and redemption provisions of the Trust,rights, as discussed herein, and familiarize themselves with the risks associated with an investment in the Trust.

The amount of silver represented by each Share will decrease over the life of the Trust due to the sales of silver necessary to pay the Sponsor’s feefees and other Trust expenses. Without increases in the price of silver sufficient to compensate for that decrease, the price of the Shares will also decline and you will lose money on your investment in Shares.

Because the Trust does not have any income, it needs to sell silver to cover the Sponsor’s feefees and expenses not assumed by the Sponsor. The Trust may also be subject to other liabilities (for example, as a result of litigation) that have also not been assumed by the Sponsor. The only source of funds to cover those liabilities will be sales of silver held by the Trust. Even if there are no expenses other than those assumed by the Sponsor, and there are no other liabilities of the Trust, the Trustee will still need to sell silver to pay the Sponsor’s fee.fees. The result of these sales is a decrease in the amount of silver represented by each Share. New deposits of silver, received in exchange for new Shares issued by the Trust, do not reverse this trend.

The Sponsor, ana indirectconsolidated subsidiary of BlackRock, is responsible for the oversight and overall management of the Trust. The Sponsor relies on BlackRock’s enterprise risk management (“ERM”) framework for the Trust’s cybersecurity risk management and strategy. Although BlackRock has implemented policies and controls, and takes protective measures involving significant expense, to prevent and address potential data breaches, inadvertent disclosures, increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks and cyber-related fraud, there can be no assurance that any of these measures proves fully effective. In addition, a successful cyber-attack may persist for an extended period of time before being detected, and it may take a considerable amount of time for an investigation to be completed and the severity and potential impact to be known. Furthermore, the Trust cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of its Service Providers. The Trust and its Shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

The Sponsor and the Trustee may agree to amend the Trust Agreement, including to increase the Sponsor’s fee,fees, without Shareholder consent. The Sponsor shall determine the contents and manner of delivery of any notice of any Trust Agreement amendment. If an amendment imposes new fees and charges or increases existing fees or charges, including the Sponsor’s feefees (except for taxes and other governmental charges, registration fees or other such expenses), or prejudices a substantial right of Shareholders, it will become effective for outstanding Shares 30 days after notice of such amendment is given to registered owners. Shareholders that are not registered owners (which most shareholders will not be) may not receive specific notice of a fee increase other than through an amendment to the prospectus. Moreover, at the time an amendment becomes effective, by continuing to hold Shares, Shareholders are deemed to agree to the amendment and to be bound by the Trust Agreement as amended without specific agreement to such increase (other than through the “negative consent” procedure described above).

Shares of the Trust trade on NYSE ArcaArca, Inc. under the ticker symbol SLV.

The Trust is not aware of any trends, demands, conditions or events that are reasonably likely to result in material changes to its liquidity needs. In exchange for a fee, the Sponsor has agreed to assume most of the expenses incurred by the Trust. As a result, the only ordinary expense of the Trust during the period covered by this report was the Sponsor’s fee.fees. The Trust’s only source of liquidity is its sales of silver.

Net increase in net assets resulting from operations for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $2,165,540,895, resulting from ana unrealizednet realized gain onof $138,783 from litigation proceeds, a net realized gain of $10,181,575 from investment in silver bullion ofsold $1,001,643,726,to pay expenses, a net realized gain of $1,216,849,453 on silver bullion distributed for the redemption of Shares,Shares aand netan realizedunrealized gain ofon $10,181,575investment fromin silver bullion sold to pay expenses and a net realized gain of $138,783 from litigation proceeds during the year,$1,001,643,726, partially offset by a net investment loss of $63,272,642. Other than the Sponsor’s fees of $63,272,642, the Trust had no expenses during the year.

Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $128,982,872, resulting from a net investment loss of $53,561,823, and an unrealized loss on investment in silver bullion of $361,918,369, andpartially offset by a net investmentrealized lossgain of $53,561,823,$3,873,057 partiallyfrom offsetinvestment byin silver bullion sold to pay expenses and a net realized gain of $282,624,263 on silver bullion distributed for the redemption of Shares and a net realized gain of $3,873,057 from investment in silver bullion sold to pay expenses.Shares. Other than the Sponsor’s fees of $53,561,823, the Trust had no expenses during the year ended December 31, 2023.year.

This information should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes to financial statements included in Item 1 of Part I of this Form 10‑Q. The discussion and analysis that follows may contain statements that relate to future events or future performance. In some cases, such forward‑lookingforward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially. These statements are based upon certain assumptions and analyses made by the Sponsor on the basis of its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Whether or not actual results and developments will conform to the Sponsor’s expectations and predictions, however, is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the special considerations discussed below, general economic, market and business conditions, changes in laws or regulations, including those concerning taxes, made by governmental authorities or regulatory bodies, and other world economic and political developments. Although the Sponsor does not make forward-looking statements unless it believes it has a reasonable basis for doing so, the Sponsor cannot guarantee their accuracy. Except as required by applicable disclosure laws, neither the Trust nor the Sponsor is under a duty to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform such statements to actual results or to a change in the Sponsor’s expectations or predictions.

The Quarter Ended MarchJune 31,30, 2026

The Trust’s net asset value decreased from $38,046,290,508 at December 31, 2025 to $35,670,754,680 at March 31, 2026 to $28,194,188,389 at June 30, 2026, a 6.24%20.96% decrease. The decrease in the Trust’s net asset value resulted primarily from a decrease in the numberprice of outstanding Shares,silver, which fell 19.11% from 582,950,000 Shares at December 31, 2025 to 542,000,000 Shares$72.69 at March 31, 2026,2026 ato consequence$58.80 ofat 102,900,000June Shares30, (2,058 Baskets) being created and 143,850,000 Shares (2,877 Baskets) being redeemed during the quarter.2026. The decrease in the Trust’s net asset value was partiallyalso offsetaffected by ana increasedecrease in the pricenumber of silver,outstanding Shares, which rose 0.97%fell from $71.99542,000,000 at December 31, 2025 to $72.69Shares at March 31, 2026.2026 to 530,300,000 Shares at June 30, 2026, a consequence of 32,000,000 Shares (640 Baskets) being created and 43,700,000 Shares (874 Baskets) being redeemed during the quarter.

The 0.83%19.21% increasedecrease in the NAV from $65.27 at December 31, 2025 to $65.81 at March 31, 2026 to $53.17 at June 30, 2026 is directly related to the 0.97%19.11% increasedecrease in the price of silver.

The NAV increaseddecreased slightly lessmore than the price of silver on a percentage basis due to the Sponsor’s fee, which was $52,725,070$44,442,928 for the quarter, or 0.12% of the Trust’s average weighted assets of $42,770,619,621$35,658,035,123 during the quarter. The NAV of $107.35$78.53 on JanuaryMay 29,14, 2026 was the highest during the quarter, compared with a low during the quarter of $60.88$51.88 on MarchJune 23,25, 2026.

The net increasedecrease in net assets resulting from operations for the quarter ended MarchJune 31,30, 2026 was $497,400,346,$6,752,790,035, resulting from an unrealized loss on investment in silver bullion of $7,795,272,098 and a net investment loss of $44,442,928, partially offset by a net realized gain of $26,270,657$19,200,025 from investment in silver bullion sold to pay expenses and a net realized gain of $5,993,405,786$1,067,724,966 on silver bullion distributed for the redemption of Shares, partially offset by an unrealized loss on investment in silver bullion of $5,469,551,027 and a net investment loss of $52,725,070.Shares. Other than the Sponsor’s fee of $52,725,070,$44,442,928, the Trust had no expenses during the quarter.