VanEck Merk Gold ETF

The redeemable per share value of the Shares increased from $27.01 at January 31, 2025 to $46.56 at January 31, 2026, the Trust’s fiscal year end. Outstanding Shares in the Trust increased from 48,664,686 Shares at January 31, 2025 to 62,358,853 Shares outstanding at January 31, 2026.

The Trust is not managed like a corporation or an active investment vehicle. It does not have any officers, directors or employees and is administered by the Trustee pursuant to the Trust Agreement. The Trust is not registered as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), and is not required to register under such act. The Trust does not and will not hold or trade in commodities futures contracts regulated by the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended (the “CEA”), as administered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”). The Trust is not a commodity pool for purposes of the CEA and neither the Sponsor nor the Trustee is subject to regulation as a commodity pool operator or a commodity trading advisor in connection with the Shares. The Trust has no fixed termination date.

The gold held by the Trust will only be distributed to Authorized Participants (defined below) in connection with the redemption of Baskets or sold (1) on an as-needed basis to pay Trust expenses not assumed by the Sponsor, (2) in the event the Trust terminates and liquidates its assets, or (3) as otherwise required by law or regulation.

The Sponsor of the registrant maintains an Internet website at www.merkfunds.com and www.merkgold.com, through which the registrant’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are made available free of charge after they have been filed or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Additional information regarding the Trust may also be found on the SEC’s EDGAR database at www.sec.gov.

Trust Objective

The primary objective of the Trust is to provide investors with an opportunity to invest in gold through the Shares and be able to take delivery of physical gold in exchange for their Shares. The Trust’s secondary objective is for the Shares to reflect the performance of the price of gold less the expenses of the Trust’s operations. The Trust is not actively managed. It does not engage in any activities designed to obtain a profit from, or to compensate investors for losses caused by, changes in the price of gold.

Each Share represents a fractional undivided beneficial interest in the Trust’s net assets. The Trust’s assets consist of gold held on the Trust’s behalf in financial institutions for safekeeping. Physical gold that the Trust will hold includes “London Bars” and, for the limited purposes described herein, other gold bars and coins, without numismatic value, having a minimum fineness (or purity) of 995 parts per 1,000 (99.5%) or, for American Gold Eagle gold coins, with a minimum fineness of 91.67%. The Trust receives gold deposited by Authorized Participants in exchange for the creation of Baskets and delivers gold to Authorized Participants in exchange for Baskets surrendered to it for redemption. In connection with the delivery of Shares by a Delivery Applicant as described below, the Sponsor may engage in over-the-counter transactions with a precious metals dealer to exchange gold for physical gold of different specifications.

Investors may contact their broker-dealer to purchase and sell Shares. An investor who would like to take delivery of physical gold for its Shares is referred to as a Delivery Applicant:

The Shares are intended to constitute a cost-efficient mechanism for investors to make an investment in gold. Although the Shares are not the exact equivalent of an investment in gold, they provide investors with an alternative that allows a level of participation in the gold market through the securities market. The Shares are:

Overview of the Gold Industry (unaudited)

Gold demand

Today, gold is used as both a commodity and a store of value. The first category includes gold jewelry and the gold that has been manufactured into industrial products. The second category includes gold reserves held by the official sector and private investors.

Jewelry demand

Jewelry demand has historically accounted for the largest component of total gold demand. At the end of 2025, the estimated total existing above-ground stock of gold amounted to 7.1 billion Ounces¹, and 44% of the estimated total has been used in jewelry.

The motivation behind gold jewelry demand differs in various regions of the world. In the developed countries, gold jewelry is primarily bought for adornment purposes, while in the developing world, gold jewelry has also been used as a store of value. India, East Asia (excluding Japan) and the Middle East are the major gold jewelry markets by volume in the developing world; gold jewelry is generally of higher cartage and the price more closely reflects the value of gold in these regions compared to developed countries.

Gold jewelry demand on average has been around 69.2 million Ounces per year from the period of 2010 to 2025. Total annual jewelry demand amounted to 52.7 million Ounces in 2025. The largest decline was in 2020, down 38.4% or 21.9 million Ounces. Gold jewelry demand, as a proportion of total gold demand was 60.4% in 2013 before falling to 43.8% in 2024. In 2025, gold jewelry demand, as a proportion of total demand, decreased to 33.2% from 43.8% in 2024.

Industrial and medical demand

In addition to its application in jewelry, gold has been widely used in manufacturing and medical treatment. In 2025, 6.5% of gold demand came from industrial fabrication. From the period of 2010 to 2025, over 70% of industrial demand has been derived from electronic component manufacturing, in large part due to gold’s high electronic conductivity and natural resistance to corrosion. Gold is also used for industrial decoration, such as gold plating and coating.

Gold is primarily used for industrial purposes in developed countries, while in developing nations, it is mainly used for jewelry. Demand for gold in electronics manufacturing fell sharply in 2009, dropping 11.7% from 2008 due to weak economic conditions, but rebounded by 17.3% in 2010. From 2010 to 2016, electronics-related gold demand declined annually before fluctuating in the following years: 8.7 million Ounces in 2017, 8.8 million in 2018, 8.6 million in 2019, 8.2 million in 2020, 9.0 million in 2021, 8.3 million in 2022, 8.0 million in 2023, rising again to 8.7 million Ounces in 2024, and 87 million in 2025.

Additionally, gold has long been used for medical and dental purposes. Its outstanding bio-compatibility, malleability and resistance to bacterial colonization make it a well-suited material for various biomedical applications in the human body. Dental use is the primary medical application. Other medical uses include gold wires used in heart transplants and gold-plated stents to support blood vessels. Demand for gold from this sector was down slightly in recent years.

Investment demand

As of 2026, around 2.9 billion Ounces of above-ground gold was held as an investment or store of value, accounting for 40.8% of the estimated total, under half of which was held by the official sector. In 2026, the official stock purchased by the official sector was 29.3 million Ounces.

Central banks and supranational organizations (e.g., the International Monetary Fund (the “IMF”) and Bank of International Settlements (the “BIS”) hold gold as part of their reserve assets. Central banks affect the gold market through buying, selling and lending, as well as swaps and other derivative activities.

Gold is a preferred store of value and investment in the private sector. Unlike equities, bonds, and currencies, it carries no risk of issuer default or mismanagement and is independent of government or corporate liabilities. Many investors view gold as a safe-haven asset, a portfolio diversifier, and a hedge against inflation.

Over the past decade, there has been a steady rise in the number of investors worldwide holding gold. A large part of this trend has been the advent and proliferation of gold-tracking exchange-traded funds, which allow investors greater access to investments in gold. In 2025, ETF investment demand was 16.2% of the total annual gold demand, as compared to -0.1% in 2024.

Sources of gold supply

Sources of gold supply include mine production, secondary supply from recycled gold and official sector sales.

Mine production

The largest portion of gold supply comes from mine production, including gold produced both from primary deposits and from secondary deposits where the gold is mined as a by-product. All the recorded gold ever mined in human history amounts to approximately 7.1 billion Ounces, or 219,891 metric tons. To put this in perspective, if every single ounce of this gold were placed next to each other, the resulting cube of pure gold would only measure around 22 meters on each side, says World Gold Council.

Gold is produced from mines on every continent except Antarctica (where mining is forbidden by the Antarctica Treaty). South Africa used to be the world’s largest gold producing country. At its peak in the early 1970s, South Africa contributed over 70% of world production. However, over the past four decades, South African output has been declining while other countries have expanded gold mining considerably.

Over recent years, gold has been increasingly mined in developing countries; China is currently the world’s largest gold producing country. Other notable gold producing countries include Australia, Russia and South Africa. In 2025, global mine production amounted to 118 million Ounces, which was 0.7 million Ounces more than the year prior.

Recycled gold

Recycled gold, or scrap gold, is the second largest source of gold supply. Gold’s indestructibility means it can be recovered from recycled jewelry and industrial products. This gold can then be melted, refined and cast into bullion bars for resale in the gold market. Supplies emanating from recycled gold have risen steadily in the past two decades and are predominantly sourced from recycled gold jewelry.

Recycled gold supply is highly affected by gold prices and economic conditions. Supplies reached elevated levels during the 1997–1998 Asian financial crisis and hit a record of 53.7 million Ounces in 2010, spurred by the global financial crisis and rising gold prices. Since then, the total amount of scrap gold has decreased to 45.1 million Ounces in 2025.

In 2016, the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available, China, India, and Turkey are the three largest countries supplying recycled gold, accounting for 34.8% of total recycled gold recovered. China is now the largest scrap-supplying nation, supplying 7.5 million Ounces, or 18.3% of total secondary supply, in 2016. India and Turkey contributed 10.4% and 6.1% to the total secondary gold supply, respectively, in 2016.

Official sector sales