GraniteShares Platinum Trust Business Summary

GraniteShares Platinum Trust (PLTM) operates as a physically-backed grantor trust designed to provide investors with a low-cost, transparent vehicle for tracking the spot price of platinum bullion. The Trust generates revenue through a passive management fee, currently set at an industry-leading expense ratio of 0.50%, which is significantly lower than the 0.60% charged by its primary competitors. PLTM’s business model is centered on the physical replication of the LBMA Platinum Price PM benchmark, with assets stored in secure London vaults custodied by ICBC Standard Bank. The Trust is a key component of the broader GraniteShares ecosystem, which includes segments for leveraged and inverse single-stock ETFs, income-generating YieldBoost products, and other hard-asset commodity funds. Its primary direct competitors include the abrdn Physical Platinum Shares ETF (PPLT), the Sprott Physical Platinum and Palladium Trust (SPPP), and the iShares Physical Platinum ETC (SPLT). Within this landscape, PLTM is positioned as the high-efficiency, cost-disruptor alternative to more established, higher-fee institutional offerings. GraniteShares was founded in 2016 by CEO William Rhind, a prominent ETF industry veteran who previously served as the CEO of World Gold Trust Services (overseeing SPDR Gold Shares) and held senior leadership roles at ETF Securities and iShares. The executive leadership team includes Chief Technology Officer Manuj Sarpal, who brings over 25 years of financial technology expertise from previous tenures at Barclays and ETF Securities, and Portfolio Managers Jeff Klearman and Ryan Dofflemeyer, the latter of whom joined in 2024 with a pedigree from ProShares and Vident Asset Management. The firm is backed by high-profile venture capital investors, including Bain Capital Ventures and Clocktower Technology Ventures, and is governed by a Board of Trustees that oversees the Trust’s adherence to its physical-backing mandates and regulatory compliance.