Annual Report for Fiscal Year Ending 12-31, 2025 (Form 10-K)

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

This information should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes to financial statements included with this report. The discussion and analysis that follows may contain statements that relate to future events or future performance. In some cases, such forward-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.

Introduction

The Trust is a grantor trust formed under the laws of the State of New York. The Trust does not have any officers, directors, or employees, and is administered by the Trustee acting as trustee pursuant to the Trust Agreement between the Trustee and the Sponsor. The Trust issues Shares representing fractional undivided beneficial interests in its net assets. The assets of the Trust consist primarily of silver bullion held by a custodian as an agent of the Trust responsible only to the Trustee.

The Trust is a passive investment vehicle and seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of silver. The Trust seeks to reflect such performance before payment of the Trust's expenses and liabilities. The Trust does not engage in any activities designed to obtain a profit from, or ameliorate losses caused by, changes in the price of silver.

The Trust issues and redeems Shares only in exchange for silver, only in Baskets or integral multiples thereof, and only in transactions with Authorized Participants. A list of the current Authorized Participants is available from the Sponsor or the Trustee.

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

Valuation of Silver Bullion; Computation of Net Asset Value

On each business day, as soon as practicable after 4:00 p.m. (New York time), the Trustee evaluates the silver held by the Trust and determines the net asset value of the Trust and the NAV. The Trustee values the silver held by the Trust using the LBMA Silver Price. If there is no announced LBMA Silver Price on any day, the Trustee is authorized to use the most recently announced LBMA Silver Price unless the Trustee, in consultation with the Sponsor, determines that such price is inappropriate as a basis for evaluation. The LBMA Silver Price is used by the Trust because it is commonly used by the U.S. silver market as an indicator of the value of silver and is permitted to be used under the Trust Agreement. The use of an indicator of the value of silver bullion other than the LBMA Silver Price could result in materially different fair value pricing of the silver held by the Trust, and as such, could result in different cost or market adjustments or in different redemption value adjustments of the outstanding redeemable capital Shares. Having valued the silver held by the Trust, the Trustee then subtracts all accrued fees, expenses and other liabilities of the Trust from the total value of the silver held by the Trust and other assets held by the Trust. The result is the net asset value of the Trust. The Trustee computes NAV by dividing the net asset value of the Trust by the number of Shares outstanding on the date the computation is made.

Liquidity

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 fees. The Trust's only source of liquidity is its sales of silver.

Critical Accounting Policies

The financial statements and accompanying notes are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America. The preparation of these financial statements relies on estimates and assumptions that impact the Trust's financial position and results of operations. These estimates and assumptions affect the Trust's application of accounting policies. A description of the valuation of silver bullion, a critical accounting policy that the Trust believes is important to understanding its results of operations and financial position, is provided in the section entitled "Valuation of Silver Bullion; Computation of Net Asset Value" above. In addition, please refer to Note 2 to the financial statements included in this report for further discussion of the Trust's accounting policies.

Valuation of Silver Bullion

Fair value of the silver bullion is based on the LBMA Silver Price.

There are other indicators of the value of silver bullion that are available that could be different than that chosen by the Trust. The LBMA Silver Price is used by the Trust because it is commonly used by the U.S. silver market as an indicator of the value of silver and is permitted to be used under the Trust Agreement. The use of an indicator of the value of silver bullion other than the LBMA Silver Price could result in materially different fair value pricing of the silver in the Trust, and as such, could result in different cost or market adjustments or in different redemption value adjustments of the outstanding redeemable capital Shares.

The following chart shows the daily LBMA Silver Price, as applicable, for the periods from December 2020 through December 2025:

Silver Prices (December 2020 - December 2025)

Results of Operations

The Year Ended December 31, 2025

The Trust's net asset value increased from $13,401,259,004 at December 31, 2024 to $38,046,290,508 at December 31, 2025, a 183.90% increase. The increase in the Trust's net asset value resulted primarily from an increase in the price of silver, which rose 149.01% from $28.91 at December 31, 2024 to $71.99 at December 31, 2025. The increase in the Trust's net asset value also benefited from an increase in the number of outstanding Shares, which rose from 508,950,000 Shares at December 31, 2024 to 582,950,000 Shares at December 31, 2025, a consequence of 411,600,000 Shares (8,232 Baskets) being created and 337,600,000 Shares (6,752 Baskets) being redeemed during the year.

The 147.89% increase in the NAV from $26.33 at December 31, 2024 to $65.27 at December 31, 2025 is directly related to the 149.01% increase in the price of silver.

The NAV increased slightly less than the price of silver on a percentage basis due to the Sponsor's fee, which were $95,546,277 for the year, or 0.50% of the Trust's average weighted assets of $19,104,695,389 during the year. The NAV of $67.85 on December 30, 2025 was the highest during the year, compared with a low during the year of $26.79 on January 2, 2025.

Net increase in net assets resulting from operations for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $21,306,921,615, resulting from a net realized gain of $17,333 from litigation proceeds, a net realized gain of $23,564,605 from investment in silver bullion sold to pay expenses, a net realized gain of $3,625,989,545 on silver bullion distributed for the redemption of Shares and an unrealized gain on investment in silver bullion of $17,752,896,409, partially offset by a net investment loss of $95,546,277. Other than the Sponsor's fee of $95,546,277, the Trust had no expenses during the year.

The Year Ended December 31, 2024

The Trust's net asset value increased from $10,389,177,775 at December 31, 2023 to $13,401,259,004 at December 31, 2024, a 28.99% increase for the year. The increase in the Trust's net asset value resulted primarily from an increase in the price of silver, which grew 21.52% from $23.79 at December 31, 2023 to $28.91 at December 31, 2024 and an increase in the number of outstanding Shares, which rose from 477,000,000 Shares at December 31, 2023 to 508,950,000 Shares at December 31, 2024, a consequence of 293,550,000 Shares (5,871 Baskets) being created and 261,600,000 Shares (5,232 Baskets) being redeemed during the year.

The 20.89% increase in the NAV from $21.78 at December 31, 2023 to $26.33 at December 31, 2024 is directly related to the 21.52% increase in the price of silver.

The NAV increased slightly less than the price of silver on a percentage basis due to the Sponsor's fees, which were $63,272,642 for the year, or 0.50% of the Trust's average weighted assets of $12,664,538,520 during the year. The NAV of $31.47 on October 23, 2024 was the highest during the year, compared with a low during the year of $20.21 on February 14, 2024.

Net increase in net assets resulting from operations for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $2,165,540,895, resulting from a net realized gain of $138,783 from litigation proceeds, a net realized gain of $10,181,575 from investment in silver bullion sold to pay expenses, a net realized gain of $1,216,849,453 on silver bullion distributed for the redemption of Shares and an unrealized gain on investment in silver bullion of $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.

The Year Ended December 31, 2023

The Trust's net asset value decreased from $11,160,084,971 at December 31, 2022 to $10,389,177,775 at December 31, 2023, a 6.91% decrease for the year. The decrease in the Trust's net asset value resulted primarily from a decrease in the number of outstanding Shares which fell from 506,550,000 Shares at December 31, 2022 to 477,000,000 Shares at December 31, 2023, a consequence of 167,250,000 Shares (3,345 Baskets) being created and 196,800,000 Shares (3,936 Baskets) being redeemed during the year. The decrease in the Trust's net asset value was also affected by a decrease in the price of silver, which fell 0.67% from $23.95 at December 31, 2022 to $23.79 at December 31, 2023.

The 1.13% decrease in the NAV from $22.03 at December 31, 2022 to $21.78 at December 31, 2023 was directly related to the 0.67% decrease in the price of silver.

The NAV decreased slightly more than the price of silver on a percentage basis due to the Sponsor's fees, which were $53,561,823 for the year, or 0.50% of the Trust's average weighted assets of $10,709,743,724 during the year. The NAV of $23.91 on April 14, 2023 was the highest during the year, compared with a low during the year of $18.47 on March 10, 2023.

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, partially offset by a net realized gain of $3,873,057 from investment in silver bullion sold to pay expenses and a net realized gain of $282,624,263 on silver bullion distributed for the redemption of Shares. Other than the Sponsor's fees of $53,561,823, the Trust had no expenses during the year.