SEC Filing Document

Company: VanEck BNB ETF
Ticker: 
CIK: 2066824
Filing Type: S-1/A
Document Type: S-1/A
Date Filed: 2025-11-21
Accession Number: 0001628280-25-053634
Exchange: 
SIC Code: 6221
SIC Description: Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers
URL: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2066824/000162828025053634/vaneckbnbs-1a2.htm

Chunk 11 of 92
Word Count: 1467
Character Count: 9318

Document Content:

such as Binance and/or its affiliated persons thereof, or individual validators, which could give them influence over the core developers' actions. If a significant majority of users and validators were to adopt amendments to the BNB Chain based on the proposals of such core developers, the BNB Chain would be subject to new protocols that may adversely affect the value of BNB. •To the extent that any validators cease to record transactions that do not include the payment of a transaction fee or do not record a transaction because the transaction fee is too low, such transactions will not be recorded on the BNB Chain until a block is validated by a validator who does not require the payment of transaction fees or is willing to accept a lower fee. Any widespread delays in the recording of transactions could result in a loss of confidence in a digital asset network.

•As the BNB Chain continues to develop and grow, certain technical issues might be uncovered and the trouble shooting and resolution of such issues requires the attention and efforts of BNB's global development community. Like all software, the BNB Chain is at risk of vulnerabilities and bugs that can disrupt ordinary operations or potentially be exploited by malicious actors.

•Many digital asset networks, including the BNB Chain, face significant scaling challenges and are being upgraded with various features designed to increase the speed of digital asset transactions and the number of transactions that can processed in a given period (known as "throughput"). These attempts to increase the volume of transactions may not be effective, and such upgrades may fail, resulting in potentially irreparable damage to the BNB Chain and the value of BNB.

•Moreover, in the past, bugs, defects and flaws in the source code for digital assets have been exposed and exploited, including flaws that disrupted normal BNB Chain, BNB Client, or DApp and smart contract operations or disabled related functionality for users, exposed users' personal information and/or resulted in

the theft of users' digital assets. The cryptography underlying the BNB Chain or BNB as an asset could prove to be flawed or ineffective, or developments in mathematics and/or technology, including advances in digital computing, algebraic geometry and quantum computing, could result in such cryptography becoming ineffective. Quantum computing technology is an emerging phenomenon which, because it is still developing, makes it difficult to predict its ultimate effect on the future value of BNB and other digital assets. However, if quantum computing technology is able to advance and significantly increase its capacity relative to the capacity of today's leading quantum computers, it could potentially undermine the viability of many of the cryptographic algorithms used across the world's information technology infrastructure, including the cryptographic algorithms used for digital assets like BNB. If quantum computing is able to advance in that way, there is a risk that quantum computing could result in the cryptography underlying the BNB Chain becoming ineffective, which, if realized, could compromise the security of the BNB Chain, or allow a malicious actor to compromise the wallets holding BNB owned by the Trust or others on the BNB Chain, which would result in losses to Shareholders. There is no guarantee that new quantum-proof architectures for the BNB Chain will be built and appropriate transitions will be implemented across the network at scale in a timely manner; any such changes could require the achievement of broad consensus within the BNB Chain community and a fork (or multiple forks), and there can be no assurance that such consensus would be achieved or the changes implemented successfully. See "— The BNB Chain's Decentralized Governance Structure May Negatively Affect Its Ability To Grow And Respond To Challenges." and "— A Temporary Or Permanent "Fork" or a "Clone" Of The BNB Chain Could Adversely Affect The Value Of The Shares." If any of the foregoing were to occur, it could result in losses to Shareholders. Moreover, normal operations and functionality of the BNB Chain may be negatively affected. Such losses of functionality could lead to the BNB Chain losing attractiveness to users, nodes, validators, or other stakeholders, thereby dampening demand for BNB. Even if another digital asset other than BNB were affected by similar circumstances, any reduction in confidence in the source code or cryptography underlying digital assets generally could negatively affect the demand for digital assets and therefore adversely affect the value of the Shares.

•The BNB Chain is still in the process of developing and making significant decisions that will affect policies that govern the supply and issuance of BNB as well as other BNB Chain protocols. The open-source nature of many digital asset network protocols, such as the protocol for the BNB Chain, means that developers and other contributors are generally not directly compensated for their contributions in maintaining and developing such protocols. As a result, the developers and other contributors of a particular digital asset may lack a financial incentive to maintain or develop the network, or may lack the resources to adequately address emerging issues. Alternatively, some developers may be funded by companies, such as Binance and/or affiliated persons thereof, or individual validators, which could give them influence over the core developers' actions. At any given time, there can be no assurance that the interests of a company or individual employing or funding a core developer's work would be the same as that of other participants in a particular digital asset network. If the BNB Chain does not successfully develop its policies on supply and issuance, and other major design decisions or does so in a manner that is not attractive to network participants it could lead to a decline in adoption of the BNB Chain and price of BNB.

•Software applications running on top of the BNB Chain (often referred to as "decentralized applications" or "DApps", whether or not decentralized in fact) and smart contract developers depend on being able to obtain BNB to be able to run their programs and operate their businesses. In particular, decentralized applications and smart contracts require BNB in order to pay the gas fees needed to power such applications and smart contracts and execute transactions. As such, they represent a significant source of demand for BNB. BNB's price volatility (particularly where BNB prices increase), or the BNB Chain's wider inability to meet the demands of decentralized applications and smart contracts in terms of inexpensive, reliable, and prompt transaction execution (including during congested periods), or to solve its scaling challenges or increase its throughput, may discourage such decentralized application and smart contract developers from using the BNB Chain as the foundational infrastructure layer for building their applications and smart contracts. If decentralized application and smart contract developers abandon the

BNB Chain for other blockchain or digital asset networks or protocols for whatever reason, the value of BNB could be negatively affected.

Moreover, because digital assets, including BNB, have been in existence for a short period of time and are continuing to develop, there may be additional risks in the future that are impossible to predict as of the date of this Prospectus.

The BNB Protocol Was Only Conceived In 2017 And The BNB Protocol May Not Function As Intended, Which Could Have An Adverse Impact On The Value Of BNB And An Investment In The Shares.

The development of the BNB Chain is ongoing and, as with any blockchain network or software generally, future disruptions, outages, bugs, or other problems could have a material adverse effect on the value of BNB and an investment in the Shares. Likewise, the client software implementation and wallets used by users and validators to access the BNB Chain or BNB could suffer future disruptions, bugs, or other problems that could have a material adverse effect on the value of BNB and an investment in the Shares.

Digital Assets Represent A New And Rapidly Evolving Industry, And The Value Of The Shares Depends On The Acceptance Of BNB.

The first major blockchain-based digital asset, bitcoin, was launched in 2009. BNB launched in 2017. In general, digital asset networks, including the BNB Chain and other cryptographic and algorithmic protocols governing the issuance of digital assets represent a new and rapidly evolving industry that is subject to a variety of factors that are difficult to evaluate. For example, the realization of one or more of the following risks could materially adversely affect the value of the Shares:

•Banks and other established financial institutions may refuse to process funds for BNB transactions; process wire transfers to or from Digital Asset Trading Platforms, BNB-related companies or service providers; or maintain accounts for persons or entities transacting in BNB. As a result, the prices of BNB are largely determined by speculators and validators, thus contributing to price volatility that makes retailers less likely to accept BNB in the future.