497K 1 d399366d497k.htm FORM 497K Form 497K
 March 1, 2023
   
    
 2023 Summary Prospectus
•  iShares Gold Strategy ETF | IAUF | CBOE BZX
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus (including amendments and supplements) and other information about the Fund, including the Fund’s statement of additional information and shareholder reports, online at https://www.ishares.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or by sending an e-mail request to iSharesETFs@blackrock.com, or from your financial professional. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated March 1, 2023, as amended and supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into (legally made a part of) this Summary Prospectus. Information on the Fund’s net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.


iSHARES® GOLD STRATEGY ETF
Ticker: IAUF Stock Exchange: Cboe BZX
Investment Objective
The iShares Gold Strategy ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results of an index that provides exposure, on a total return basis, to the price performance of gold.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the “Trust”) and BlackRock Fund Advisors (“BFA”) (the “Investment Advisory Agreement”) provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses.” Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment products. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights section of the Fund's prospectus (the “Prospectus”). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to the Fund's investments in other exchange-traded products (“ETPs”) sponsored by BFA or its affiliates and other funds advised by BFA or its affiliates through February 29, 2024, provided that the waiver be no greater than the Fund's management fee of 0.25%. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investments)
Management
Fees
  Distribution and
Service (12b-1)
Fees
  Other
Expenses
  Acquired Fund Fees
and Expenses
  Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
  Fee Waiver   Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
After
Fee Waiver
0.25%   None   None   0.09%   0.34%   (0.09)%   0.25%
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Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year   3 Years   5 Years   10 Years
$26   $100   $182   $422
Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities or other assets (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 52% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index (the “Underlying Index”), which is designed to track the price performance of gold. The Underlying Index is composed of exchange-traded gold futures contracts and one or more ETPs backed by or linked to physical gold, as determined by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (the “Index Provider”), and is rebalanced on a quarterly basis.
In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the Fund invests in a combination of (i) exchange-traded gold futures contracts and other exchange-traded or over-the-counter (“OTC”)
derivatives (i.e., forward contracts, futures, options and swaps) that correlate to the investment returns of physical gold, based on the notional value of such derivative instruments; and (ii) ETPs backed by or linked to physical gold, which may include the iShares Gold Trust (the “Gold Trust”) ((i) and (ii) together, the “Gold Investments”). The Gold Trust, whose assets consist primarily of gold held by a custodian on behalf of the Gold Trust, seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of gold. The Fund may invest up to 20% of the Fund's assets in OTC derivatives. The Fund additionally aims to generate interest income and capital appreciation through a cash management strategy consisting primarily of cash and cash equivalents and short-term government obligations (collectively, “Fixed-Income Investments”).
The ETPs held by the Fund may invest in physical gold bullion or OTC or exchange-traded derivatives on gold bullion, such as forward contracts, futures, options and swaps. The ETPs held by the Fund may be sponsored by an affiliate of BFA or by an unaffiliated entity, and may be structured as, among others, exchange-traded commodities that track the price of gold or exchange-traded notes with interest and/or principal payments linked to the price of
 
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gold. As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index was composed of 3 components.
BFA uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “beat” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor selection of securities and/or other instruments. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the Underlying Index.
The Fund seeks to gain exposure to the
Gold Investments by investing through a wholly-owned subsidiary organized in the Cayman Islands (the “Subsidiary”). The Subsidiary is advised by BFA and has the same investment objective as the Fund. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary is not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Subsidiary invests solely in the Gold Investments and cash and cash equivalents.
In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”), the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The Fund’s Gold Investments held in the Subsidiary are intended to provide the Fund with exposure to the gold market consistent with current U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the ability of investment companies to invest directly in the Gold Investments.
The remainder of the Fund’s assets is invested directly by the Fund, primarily in Fixed-Income Investments, including repurchase agreements, money market instruments, U.S. government and agency securities, treasury inflation-protected securities and sovereign debt obligations of non-U.S. countries. The Fund invests in Fixed-Income Investments for investment purposes and to collateralize the Subsidiary’s investments in derivatives.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of
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its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a “commodity pool” under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”).
The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.
Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes (including the futures market).
Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund’s adviser or an affiliate of the
Fund’s adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.
Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument typically is based upon the price movements of the underlying commodity or an economic
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variable linked to such price movements. The prices of commodity-linked investments may fluctuate quickly and dramatically as a result of changes affecting a particular commodity and may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Commodity-linked derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction, the exchange or trading facility on which they trade or the applicable clearing house may default or otherwise fail to perform. The Fund’s use of commodity-linked derivatives may also have a leveraging effect on the Fund’s portfolio because of the leverage inherent in the use of derivatives. Leverage generally magnifies the effect of a change in the value of an asset and creates a risk of loss of value on a larger pool of assets than the Fund would otherwise have had. The Fund is required to post margin with respect to its holdings in derivatives. Each of these factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund. The Fund is specifically exposed to the Risk of Investing in Gold.
Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund and the Subsidiary are deemed commodity pools and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator (“CPO”) with respect to the Fund and the Subsidiary under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association (“NFA”). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events
that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.
Counterparty Risk. Certain commodity-linked derivative instruments, swap agreements and other forms of financial instruments that involve counterparties subject the Fund to the risk that the counterparty could default on its obligations under the agreement, either through the counterparty’s bankruptcy or failure to perform its obligations. In the event of a counterparty default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets or obtain no recovery at all. The Fund’s investments in the futures markets also introduce the risk that its futures commission merchant (“FCM”) could default on an obligation set forth in an agreement between the Fund and the FCM, including the FCM’s obligation to return margin posted in connection with the Fund’s futures contracts.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of
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the Fund, the Fund's adviser, distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund’s Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Derivatives Risk. The Fund’s use of derivatives may reduce the Fund’s returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for OTC derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund’s use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could
make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.
Financials Sector Risk. Performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. The impact of changes in capital requirements and recent or future regulation of any individual
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financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.
Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA’s inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations. To the extent that the Fund invests in rolling futures contracts, it may be subject to additional risk.
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline when yields fall. This decline can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or the
Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s
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ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent
years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities or other assets to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or assets may cause the value of the securities or assets to decline.
Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund’s adviser or an affiliate of the Fund’s adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may
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also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund’s NAV, increase the Fund’s brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.
Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.
Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.
Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified.” This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as “diversified,” the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result,
the Fund's performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers and counterparties.
Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
Risk of Investing in ETPs. Through the Fund’s investments in ETPs, which may be affiliated or unaffiliated with the Fund, the Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETPs’ investments. The Fund’s exposure to particular risks of an ETP generally will be proportionate to the Fund’s allocation to the ETP. To the extent the Fund invests a portion of its assets in the Gold Trust, which seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of gold, the Fund is subject to the risks associated with the Gold Trust, including the possibility that the market price of its shares could decrease. The value of the Fund’s investment in the Gold Trust may fluctuate, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The Gold Trust is sponsored by an affiliate of BFA that receives a fee in exchange for assuming certain administrative and marketing expenses of the Gold Trust, which may
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create a conflict of interest for BFA in determining whether, and under what circumstances, to purchase or sell shares in the Gold Trust.
Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund has a substantial exposure to gold through its investments in the Gold Investments. Thus, the Fund’s portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile, which may adversely affect the value of Gold Investments. Governments, central banks, or other larger holders can influence the production and sale of gold, which may adversely affect the performance of the Fund.
Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.
Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.
Small Fund Risk. When the Fund’s size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the
listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
Subsidiary Risk. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. By investing in the Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary’s investments. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in this Prospectus, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. Changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as described in the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), and could adversely affect the Fund.
Tax Risk. The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as “qualifying income” for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund’s income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered “qualifying income,” the Fund might be
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required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund’s ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to “tracking error,” which is the divergence of the Fund ’s performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund ’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund ’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also
may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS ISSUERS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities or other instruments may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities or other instruments not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
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Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for 1 year and since inception compare with the Underlying Index. Prior to March 1, 2021, the Fund operated as a transparent active ETF. Both assume that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.
Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 11.85% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -9.98% in the 1st quarter of 2021.
Updated performance information, including the Fund’s current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).
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Average Annual Total Returns
(for the periods ended December 31, 2022)
  One Year   Since Fund
Inception
(Inception Date: 6/6/2018)      
Return Before Taxes

-1.11%   6.35%
Return After Taxes on Distributions1

-1.46%   4.59%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares1

-0.66%   4.15%
Bloomberg Composite Gold Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes) -0.70%   6.61%

1 After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.
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Management
Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
Portfolio Managers. Richard Mejzak, Orlando Montalvo, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mejzak and Mr. Savage have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2018. Mr. Montalvo and Mr. Whitehead have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”).
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BFA or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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For more information visit www.iShares.com or call 1-800-474-2737
IS-SP-IAUF-0323
Investment Company Act file No.: 811-22649