SEC Filing Document

Company: VanEck BNB ETF
Ticker: 
CIK: 2066824
Filing Type: S-1/A
Document Type: S-1/A
Date Filed: 2025-10-30
Accession Number: 0001628280-25-047581
Exchange: 
SIC Code: 6221
SIC Description: Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers
URL: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2066824/000162828025047581/vaneckbnbs-1a1.htm

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not designed to accommodate smart contracts and user-generated decentralized applications, a new standalone blockchain, Binance Smart Chain (“BNB Chain”), was then developed to accommodate smart contract functionality and Dapps. Eventually, the Beacon Chain was hard forked and merged into BNB Chain, with BNB Chain as the successor blockchain network and new BNB on the BNB Chain issued in proportion to the balance of each existing Beacon Chain BNB wallet on the Beacon Chain at a fixed exchange rate, with BNB being the successor asset and Beacon Chain BNB no longer functional or operational after the elapsing of a sunset period. Historically the BNB Chain’s development has been overseen by [ ] and other core developers. The core developers are able to access and alter the BNB Chain source code and, as a result, they are responsible for quasi-official releases of updates and other changes to the BNB Chain’s source code.

The release of updates to the BNB Chain’s source code does not guarantee that the updates will be automatically adopted. Users and nodes must accept any changes made to the BNB source code by downloading the proposed modification of the BNB Chain’s source code. A modification of the BNB Chain’s source code is only effective with respect to the BNB users that download it. If a modification is accepted only by a percentage of users and validators, a division in the BNB Chain will occur such that one network will run the pre-modification source code and the other network will run the modified source code. Such a division is known as a "fork." See "Risk Factors—Risk Factors Related to Digital Assets—A temporary or permanent fork could adversely affect an investment in the Shares". Consequently, as a practical matter, a modification to the source code becomes part of the BNB Chain only if accepted by participants collectively having a majority of the processing power on the BNB Chain.

Core development of the BNB source code has increasingly focused on modifications of the BNB protocol to increase speed and scalability and also allow for financial and non-financial next generation uses. The Trust's activities will not directly relate to such projects, though such projects may utilize BNB as tokens for the facilitation of their non-financial uses, thereby potentially increasing demand for BNB and the utility of the BNB Chain as a whole. Conversely, projects that operate and are built within the BNB Chain may increase the data flow on the BNB Chain and could either "bloat" the size of the BNB Chain or slow confirmation times.

Forms of Attack Against the BNB Chain

All networked systems are vulnerable to various kinds of attacks. As with any computer network, the BNB Chain contains certain flaws. For example, the BNB Chain is currently vulnerable to a "51% attack" (though the

numerical thresholds vary in proof-of-stake) where, if a party or group were to gain control of more than the relevant threshold of the staked BNB, a malicious actor would be able to gain full control of the network and the ability to manipulate the BNB Chain. See "—The BNB Chain Could Be Vulnerable To Attacks on Transaction Finality and Consensus Processes, Which Could Adversely Affect An Investment In The Trust Or The Ability Of The Trust To Operate." As of [September 17, 2025], the top three largest staking pools controlled approximately [     ]% of the BNB staked on the BNB Chain.

In addition, many digital asset networks have been subjected to a number of denial-of-service attacks, which has led to temporary delays in block creation and in the transfer of BNB. See "— The BNB Protocol Was Only Conceived In 2017 And The BNB Protocol Or Its Proof-of-History Timestamping Mechanism May Not Function As Intended, Which Could Have An Adverse Impact On The Value Of BNB And An Investment In The Shares."

Summary of a BNB Transaction

Prior to engaging in BNB transactions directly on the BNB Chain, a user generally must first install on its computer or mobile device a BNB Chain software program that will allow the user to generate a private and public key pair associated with a BNB address. The BNB Chain software program and the BNB address also enable the user to connect to the BNB Chain and transfer BNB to, and receive BNB from, other users.

Each BNB Chain address, or wallet, is associated with a unique "public key" and "private key" pair. To receive BNB, the BNB recipient must provide its public key to the party initiating the transfer. This activity is analogous to a recipient for a transaction in U.S. dollars providing a routing address in wire instructions to the payor so that cash may be wired to the recipient's account. The payor approves the transfer to the address provided by the recipient by "signing" a transaction that consists of the recipient's public key with the private key of the address from where the payor is transferring the BNB. The recipient, however, does not make public or provide to the sender its related private key.

Neither the recipient nor the sender reveals their private keys in a transaction, because the private key authorizes transfer of the funds in that address to other users. Therefore, if a user loses his or her private key, the user may permanently lose access to the BNB contained in the associated address. Likewise, BNB is irretrievably lost if the private key associated with it is deleted and no backup has been made. When sending BNB, a user's BNB Chain software program must validate the transaction with the associated private key. In addition, since every computation on the BNB Chain requires processing power, there is a transaction fee involved with the transfer that is paid by the payor The resulting digitally validated transaction is sent by the user's BNB Chain software program to the BNB Chain validators for transaction confirmation.

BNB Chain validators record and confirm transactions when they validate and add blocks of information to the BNB Chain. When a validator is selected to validate a block, it creates that block, which includes data relating to (i) the verification of newly submitted and accepted transactions and (ii) a reference to the prior block in the BNB Chain to which the new block is being added. The validator becomes aware of outstanding, unrecorded transactions through the data packet transmission and distribution discussed above.

Upon the addition of a block of BNB transactions, the BNB Chain software program of both the spending party and the receiving party will show confirmation of the transaction on the BNB Chain and reflect an adjustment to the BNB balance in each party's BNB Chain public key, completing the BNB transaction. Once a transaction is confirmed on the BNB Chain, it is irreversible.

Some BNB transactions are conducted "off-blockchain" and are therefore not recorded in the BNB Chain. These "off-blockchain transactions" involve the transfer of control over, or ownership of, a specific digital wallet holding BNB or the reallocation of ownership of certain BNB in a pooled-ownership digital wallet, such as a digital wallet owned by a Digital Asset Trading Platform. In contrast to on-blockchain transactions, which are publicly recorded on the BNB Chain, information and data regarding off-blockchain transactions are generally not publicly available. Therefore, off-blockchain transactions are not truly BNB transactions in that they do not involve the transfer of transaction data on the BNB Chain and do not reflect a movement of BNB between addresses recorded in the BNB Chain. For these reasons, off- blockchain transactions are subject to risks as any such transfer of BNB ownership is

not protected by the protocol behind the BNB Chain or recorded in, and validated through, the blockchain mechanism.

Creation of New BNB

Initial Creation of BNB

The Trust’s Staking Program