Bitwise Chainlink ETF

S-11 ea0254517-s1_bitwise.htm REGISTRATION STATEMENT

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 26, 2025.

Registration No. 333-_______

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

c/o Bitwise Investment Advisers, LLC

250 Montgomery Street, Suite 200

San Francisco, California 94104

(415) 707-3663

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including

area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices and for service of process purposes)

Copies to:

Richard Coyle, Esq.

**James Audette, Esq.

Myles O’Kelly, Esq.

Chapman and Cutler LLP

320 South Canal Street, 27 th Floor

Chicago, Illinois 60606

(312) 845-3724

Katherine Dowling, Esq.

Bitwise Investment Advisers, LLC

250 Montgomery Street, Suite 200

San Francisco, California 94104

(415) 707-3663

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box: ☒

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering: ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large, accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large, accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☒

The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information in this Prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This Prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Subject to Completion

Preliminary Prospectus dated August __, 2025

PROSPECTUS

Shares

The Bitwise Chainlink ETF (the “Trust”) is an exchange-traded product that issues common shares of beneficial interest (“Shares”) that are anticipated to be listed on _________ (the “Exchange”) under the ticker symbol “_____.” The Trust’s investment objective is to seek to provide exposure to the value of Chainlink held by the Trust, less the expenses of the Trust’s operations and other liabilities. In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the Trust will hold Chainlink and establish its net asset value (“NAV”) by reference to the CME CF Chainlink–Dollar Reference Rate – New York Variant (the “Pricing Benchmark”). The Pricing Benchmark is calculated by CF Benchmarks Ltd. (the “Benchmark Provider”) based on an aggregation of executed trade flow of major Chainlink trading platforms (“Constituent Platforms”). The Trust is sponsored and managed by Bitwise Investment Advisers, LLC (the “Sponsor”).

The Trust will pay to the Sponsor a unitary management fee of 0.____% per annum of the Trust’s Chainlink holdings (the “Sponsor Fee”).

When the Trust creates or redeems its Shares, it will do so in blocks of 10,000 Shares (each, a “Basket”) based on the quantity of Chainlink attributable to each Share of the Trust (net of accrued but unpaid expenses and liabilities) multiplied by the number of Shares (10,000) comprising a Basket (the “Basket Amount”). For an order to create (purchase) a Basket, the purchase shall be in the amount of Chainlink represented by the Basket Amount or the amount of U.S. dollars needed to purchase the Basket Amount (plus a per-order transaction fee), as calculated by the Administrator (as defined below). For an order to redeem a Basket, the Sponsor shall either arrange for the Basket Amount of Chainlink to be distributed in-kind or sold and the cash proceeds (minus a per-order transaction fee) distributed. The Trust only creates and redeems Baskets in transactions with financial firms that are authorized to purchase or redeem Shares with the Trust (each, an “Authorized Participant”). Shares initially comprising the same Basket but offered by the Authorized Participants to the public at different times may have different offering prices that depend on various factors, including the supply and demand for Shares, the value of the Trust’s assets, and market conditions at the time of a transaction. Investors who buy or sell Shares during the day from their broker may do so at a premium or discount relative to the NAV of the Shares.

Bitwise Asset Management, Inc., the parent of the Sponsor, served as seed capital investor to the Trust (the “Seed Capital Investor”). The Seed Capital Investor agreed to purchase $________ in Shares on , and on ________ took delivery of __ Shares at a per-Share price of $ (the “Seed Shares”). The $ the Trust received in consideration for the sale of the Seed Shares served as the basis of the audit described in the sections entitled “REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM” and “STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL CONDITION.”

[Bitwise Investment Manager, LLC, an affiliate of the Sponsor, is expected to purchase the initial Baskets of Shares for $__________, at a per-Share price of $ for these ________ Shares (the “Seed Baskets”). Such proceeds are expected to be used by the Trust to purchase Chainlink at or prior to the listing of Shares on the Exchange. Bitwise Investment Manager, LLC will act as a statutory underwriter in connection with the initial purchase of the Seed Baskets.]

Investors who decide to buy or sell Shares of the Trust will place their trade orders through their brokers and may incur customary brokerage commissions and charges. Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for the Shares. Investing in the Trust involves risks similar to those involved with an investment directly in Chainlink and other significant risks.See “RISK FACTORS” beginning on page [10].

The offering of the Shares is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in accordance with the Securities Act of 1933 (the “1933 Act”). The Trust intends to issue Shares on a continuous basis and is registering an indeterminate number of Shares. The offering is intended to be a continuous offering. The Trust is not a fund registered or subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“Investment Company Act”). The Trust is not a commodity pool for purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936 (“Commodity Exchange Act”), and the Sponsor is not subject to regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) as a commodity pool operator or a commodity trading adviser.

AN INVESTMENT IN THE TRUST MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR INVESTORS THAT ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO ACCEPT MORE RISK THAN MAY BE INVOLVED WITH OTHER EXCHANGE-TRADED PRODUCTS THAT DO NOT HOLD CHAINLINK OR INTERESTS RELATED TO CHAINLINK. THE SHARES ARE SPECULATIVE SECURITIES. THEIR PURCHASE INVOLVES A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK AND YOU COULD LOSE YOUR ENTIRE INVESTMENT. YOU SHOULD CONSIDER ALL RISK FACTORS BEFORE INVESTING IN THE TRUST. PLEASE REFER TO “RISK FACTORS” BEGINNING ON PAGE [10].

NEITHER THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NOR ANY STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF THE SECURITIES OFFERED IN THIS PROSPECTUS, OR DETERMINED IF THIS PROSPECTUS IS TRUTHFUL OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.

The date of this Prospectus is _____________, 2025

TABLE OF CONTENTS

This Prospectus contains information you should consider when making an investment decision about the Shares. You may rely on the information contained in this Prospectus. The Trust and the Sponsor have not authorized any person to provide you with different information and, if anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. This Prospectus is not an offer to sell the Shares in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale of the Shares is not permitted.

The Shares are not registered for public sale in any jurisdiction other than the United States.

i

STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Prospectus includes “forward-looking statements” that generally relate to future events or future performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. All statements (other than statements of historical fact) included in this Prospectus that address activities, events, or developments that will or may occur in the future, including such matters as movements in the digital asset markets, the Trust’s operations, the Sponsor’s plans, and references to the Trust’s future success and other similar matters, are forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially. These statements are based upon certain assumptions and analyses the Sponsor has made based on its perception of historical trends, current conditions, and expected future developments, as well as other factors appropriate in the circumstances.

Whether or not actual results and developments will conform to the Sponsor’s expectations and predictions is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including:

See “RISK FACTORS.” Consequently, all the forward-looking statements made in this prospectus are qualified by these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments the Sponsor anticipates will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the expected consequences to, or have the expected effects on, the Trust’s operations or the value of the Shares. 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 reflect a change in the Sponsor’s expectations or predictions.

EMERGING GROWTH COMPANY STATUS

The Trust is an“emerging growth company” as that term is used in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the“JOBS Act”) and, as such, may elect to comply with certain reduced reporting requirements. For as long as the Trust is an emerging growth company, unlike other public companies, it will not be required to:

The Trust will cease to be an “emerging growth company” upon the earliest of (i) when it has $1.235 billion or more in annual revenues; (ii) when it is deemed to be a large accelerated filer under Rule 12b-2 promulgated pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; (iii) when it issues more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt over a three-year period; or (iv) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of its initial public offering.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act of 1933 for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies; however, the Trust is choosing to “opt out” of such extended transition period, and as a result, the Trust will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that the Trust’s decision to opt out of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards is irrevocable.

ii