iShares Silver Trust

iShares Silver Trust

iShares Silver Trust was established in 2006 by BlackRock's iShares division. It is structured as a grantor trust that holds physical silver bullion in London vaults, with BNY Mellon as trustee and JPMorgan Chase as custodian. The trust invests exclusively in silver, buying physical bars of at least 99.9% purity stored in the London Good Delivery system. As of recent filings, it held approximately 13,500 tonnes of silver, representing roughly 12% of annual global mine production. The trust issues shares in large blocks called baskets, which then trade on the NYSE Arca exchange under ticker SLV. It does not engage in derivatives or leverage. Scale is measured by net asset value, which has fluctuated with silver prices. The trust had over $11B in assets in early 2023 (per iShares filings, 2023). A key recent event: In February 2024, the trust executed a 1-for-10 reverse stock split to adjust share price per BlackRock's announcement. iShares Silver Trust is hedged by a large institutional shareholder base, with major holdings by banks, pension funds, and hedge funds. Structural differentiator: Unlike silver futures ETFs, SLV is physically backed with no counterparty risk beyond vault custody. It also charges a relatively low expense ratio of 0.50%, making it efficient for large institutional allocations.