Exhibit · Fund prospectus · Principal Risks · scanned 2026-09-24
What the Bitcoin futures fund prospectuses say about miners' pay
5 Bitcoin futures funds are in this scan, each because its own prospectus lists this risk: ETFs and mutual funds that hold futures contracts, not coins. It is a stated roster, not every bitcoin fund: funds that still trade but whose text on this sits in another fund's section are left out. Each prospectus must list the principal risks of the fund's strategy, and all 5 disclose this one: miners may not be paid enough. Four of the 5 share one paragraph, word for word, which adds that the pay falls on a declining schedule. In 2021 two bitcoin funds headed the same risk “Insufficient Mining Reward Risk”; neither is on the SEC's fund list today. The sponsors' own words, each linked to EDGAR.
They hold futures contracts, not coins. The miners' pay is still in their principal risks. What it costs ↓
ProspectusPrincipal Risks What the Bitcoin futures fund prospectuses say about miners' pay verified 2026-10-13 Download the full report Every quote with its EDGAR address and hash, the full roster, the arithmetic and the method.
Principal risks: declining mining compensation
verbatim · ProShares and ProFunds file one paragraph for four funds
ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF
Prospectus · Form 485BPOS · filed 2025-09-23
Principal Risks
○Declining mining compensation – Transactions in bitcoin are processed by miners which are primarily compensated in bitcoin based on a declining payment schedule and, in some instances, by voluntary fees paid by participants. If this compensation is not sufficient to incentivize miners to process transactions, the confirmation process for transactions may slow and the Bitcoin Network may become more vulnerable to malicious actors. Additionally, changes in the prices of hardware or electricity required to process transactions may reduce miner incentives. These and similar events may have a significant adverse effect on the price and liquidity of bitcoin and the value of an investment in a Fund.
If this compensation is not sufficient to incentivize miners to process transactions, the confirmation process for transactions may slow and the Bitcoin Network may become more vulnerable to malicious actors
Translation of the highlighted sentence. The excerpt above is the filing's own English.
Two funds, one sheet. The paragraph sits byte for byte in each fund's own Principal Risks, with the same sentence highlighted. Both are linked below, each with its paragraph number.
One paragraph, not four warnings. The BTCFX sheet carries the same words, byte for byte: ProShares and ProFunds are affiliated sponsors, and the paragraph is in the Principal Risks of all four of their funds on this page.
Short Bitcoin ProFund
Prospectus · Form 485BPOS · filed 2025-11-25
Principal Risks
○Declining mining compensation – Transactions in bitcoin are processed by miners which are primarily compensated in bitcoin based on a declining payment schedule and, in some instances, by voluntary fees paid by participants. If this compensation is not sufficient to incentivize miners to process transactions, the confirmation process for transactions may slow and the Bitcoin Network may become more vulnerable to malicious actors. Additionally, changes in the prices of hardware or electricity required to process transactions may reduce miner incentives. These and similar events may have a significant adverse effect on the price and liquidity of bitcoin and the value of an investment in a Fund.
If this compensation is not sufficient to incentivize miners to process transactions, the confirmation process for transactions may slow and the Bitcoin Network may become more vulnerable to malicious actors
Translation of the highlighted sentence. The excerpt above is the filing's own English.
Both are mutual funds, not ETFs. One ProFunds prospectus covers the two of them, and the paragraph appears once, in the Principal Risks section they share.
Two funds, one sheet. The paragraph sits byte for byte in each fund's own Principal Risks, with the same sentence highlighted. Both are linked below, each with its paragraph number.
One paragraph, not four warnings. The BITO sheet carries the same words, byte for byte: ProShares and ProFunds are affiliated sponsors, and the paragraph is in the Principal Risks of all four of their funds on this page.
Prospectus · Form 485BPOS · filed 2026-06-26
Principal Risks
Miners may cease expanding processing power to create blocks and verify transactions if they are not adequately compensated.
Miners may cease expanding processing power to create blocks and verify transactions if they are not adequately compensated
Translation of the highlighted sentence. The excerpt above is the filing's own English.
The whole entry. In BITX's summary of principal risks this is a single bullet, with no heading of its own.
History, not in the count. 2021: VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBTF), a Bitcoin futures fund, filed a risk titled “Insufficient Mining Reward Risk” in its prospectus (Form 485BPOS, filed 2021-10-20). The fund is not on the SEC's fund list today (checked 2026-09-24).
Insufficient Mining Reward Risk. Miners generate revenue from both newly created bitcoin, known as the “block reward” and from fees taken upon verification of transactions. If the aggregate revenue from transaction fees and the block reward is below a miner’s cost, the miner may cease operations. If the award of new units of bitcoin for solving blocks declines and/or the difficulty of solving blocks increases, and transaction fees voluntarily paid by participants are not sufficiently high, miners may not have an adequate incentive to continue mining and may cease their mining operations. The current fixed reward for solving a new block on the Bitcoin network is 6.25 bitcoin per block, which decreased from 12.5 bitcoin in May 2020. It is estimated that it will halve again in about four years after the previous halving. This reduction may result in a reduction in the aggregate hash rate of the Bitcoin network as the incentive for miners decreases.
History, not in the count. 2021: Stone Ridge Bitcoin Strategy Fund (BTCMX), a mutual fund, filed a risk under the same title in its prospectus (Form 485BPOS, filed 2021-07-23). It is not on the SEC's fund list today either (checked 2026-09-24).
Insufficient Mining Reward Risk. Miners generate revenue from both newly created bitcoin, known as the “block reward” and from fees taken upon verification of transactions. See “Investment Objective and Principal Investment Strategies — The Bitcoin Network.” If the aggregate revenue from transaction fees and the block reward is below a miner’s cost, the miner may cease operations.
fees ÷ (fees + subsidy), BTC terms · monthly average of daily values since 2012 · ▲ halving · the shaded band is the shortfall: to hold miner revenue where it is today when the subsidy halves at block 1,050,000, fees must reach 50% of revenue — 80× today — at a constant BTC price. Fees are drawn flat because nothing in the series implies a climb. · data through 2026-10-12 · verified 2026-10-13
The halving is the schedule. The security budget is the consequence.
The security-budget index today, against five published benchmarks for what it should be.
OPEN →What Bitcoin pays miners, live, per second — and what it stops paying at block 1,050,000.
OPEN →What has to replace the block reward as it goes to zero, and one way it could.
Quotes are excerpts from public SEC filings, reproduced verbatim for commentary. Issuer names and marks identify the documents quoted and imply no affiliation or endorsement. Nothing here is investment advice. Filings scanned 2026-09-24 · figures verified 2026-10-13.
Logo files via the sponsors' own sites and Wikimedia Commons. Full attribution in logos/_sources.json.