SEC Filing Document

Company: VanEck BNB ETF
Ticker: 
CIK: 2066824
Filing Type: S-1/A
Document Type: S-1/A
Date Filed: 2026-05-15
Accession Number: 0001628280-26-035722
Exchange: 
SIC Code: 6221
SIC Description: Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers
URL: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2066824/000162828026035722/vaneckbnbs-1a5.htm

Chunk 52 of 91
Word Count: 1433
Character Count: 9515

Document Content:

May 2025, Coinbase experienced a significant breach of sensitive customer data and the misappropriation of digital assets resulting from the bribery of overseas insiders. This breach led to substantial financial losses for affected customers and prompted Coinbase to make certain operational adjustments, including increasing investment in insider-threat detection and automated response systems and opening a new support hub in the United States, and adding stronger security controls and monitoring across all locations. A security breach affecting the Trust or its service providers could result in the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, operational disruptions, and financial losses. Substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent any cyber incidents in the future. The Trust and its Shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result. While the Trust has established business continuity plans, there are inherent limitations in such plans. The Trust And Its Service Providers Are Subject To Certain Operational Risks.

The Trust and its service providers, including the Sponsor, Administrator, Transfer Agent, BNB Custodian and Cash Custodian (as well as Authorized Participants and market makers) may experience disruptions that arise from human error, processing and communications errors, counterparty or third-party errors, or technology or systems failures, any of which may have an adverse impact on the Trust. Although the Trust and its service providers seek to mitigate these operational risks through their internal controls and operational risk management processes, these measures may not identify or may be inadequate to address all such risks. Additionally, the BNB Custodian has a limited operating history and experience, which could heighten certain operational risks.

Risk Factors Related to ERISA

In General.

Notwithstanding the commercially reasonable efforts of the Sponsor, it is possible that the underlying assets of the Trust will be deemed to include “plan assets” for the purposes of Title I of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). If the assets of the Trust were deemed to be “plan assets,” this could result in, among other things, (i) the application of the prudence and other fiduciary standards of ERISA to investments made by the Trust and (ii) the possibility that certain transactions in which the Trust might otherwise

seek to engage in the ordinary course of its business and operation could constitute non-exempt “prohibited transactions” under Section 406 of ERISA and/or Section 4975 of the Code, which could restrict the Trust from entering into an otherwise desirable investment or from entering into an otherwise favorable transaction. In addition, fiduciaries who decide to invest in the Trust could, under certain circumstances, be liable for “prohibited transactions” or other violations as a result of their investment in the Trust or as co-fiduciaries for actions taken by or on behalf of the Trust or the Sponsor. There may be other federal, state, local, non-U.S. law or regulation that contains one or more provisions that are similar to the foregoing provisions of ERISA and the Code that may also apply to an investment in the Trust.

The application of ERISA (including the corresponding provisions of the Code and other relevant laws) may be complex and dependent upon the particular facts and circumstances of the Trust and of each Plan, and it is the responsibility of the appropriate fiduciary of each investing Plan to ensure that any investment in the Trust by such Plan is consistent with all applicable requirements. Each Shareholder, whether or not subject to Title I of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code, should consult its own legal and other advisors regarding the considerations discussed above and all other relevant ERISA and other considerations before purchasing the Shares.

BNB, BNB MARKET, BNB EXCHANGES AND REGULATION OF BNB

This section of the Prospectus provides a more detailed description of BNB.

BNB and the BNB Chain Ecosystem

BNB is a digital asset that is created and transmitted through the operations of a multi-chain blockchain system (the “BNB Chain”) ecosystem. The BNB Chain ecosystem is designed to provide scalable, Ethereum Virtual Machine (“EVM”)-compatible smart contract execution and decentralized data storage. The BNB Chain ecosystem currently consists of three blockchains: BNB Smart Chain (formerly called the Binance Smart Chain), opBNB, and BNB Greenfield.

The BNB Chain ecosystem enables users to exchange tokens including BNB, in transactions which are recorded on a public transaction ledger known as a blockchain. BNB may be used to pay for goods and services, including computational power on the BNB Smart Chain, or it may be converted to fiat currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, at rates determined on digital asset trading platforms or in individual end-user-to-end-user transactions under a barter system.

The BNB Smart Chain was designed to allow users to write and implement smart contracts—that is, general-purpose code that executes on every computer in the network and can instruct the transmission of information and value based on a sophisticated set of logical conditions. Using smart contracts, users can create markets, store registries of debts or promises, represent ownership of property, move funds in accordance with conditional instructions and create digital assets other than BNB on the BNB Smart Chain. Smart contract operations are executed on the BNB Smart Chain in exchange for payment of BNB. Like the Ethereum network, the BNB Chain ecosystem is one of a number of projects intended to expand blockchain use beyond just a peer-to-peer money system.

The BNB ecosystem originated in 2017 with the launch of BNB and later expanded into the current multi-chain “BNB Chain” architecture. The BNB Beacon Chain was launched in April 2019 and retired in November 2024. It was built using Cosmos SDK to be a single-purpose chain for fast, high-volume trading on Binance DEX, and thus lacked other smart contract functionality and was not EVM-compatible. A native cross-chain bridge, the BSC Token Hub, connected the BNB Beacon Chain to the BNB Smart Chain and thus allowed BNB and other digital assets to move between the blockchains. In October 2022, the BSC Token Hub suffered an exploit, resulting in the loss of approximately two million BNB. In response to the exploit, Binance paused the system for several hours and introduced a software update that contained a hardcoded function that blacklisted the hacker’s wallet address, preventing it from signing on-chain transactions and liquidating the stolen funds. In 2024, the BNB Beacon Chain’s functionality and digital assets (including BNB) were migrated to the BNB Smart Chain, and the BNB Beacon Chain was retired. The stated goals of this fusion were to streamline the network, improve efficiency, reduce security risks, and align the BNB Chain ecosystem’s architecture with current technological demands and future growth.

The current BNB Chain ecosystem is comprised of three blockchains, BNB Smart Chain, opBNB and BNB Greenfield, which allow the network to create and trade assets such as BNB, coordinate transaction validators and facilitate the creation of smart contracts. Each chain serves a different purpose:

BNB Smart Chain

BNB Smart Chain is a Layer 1 blockchain used to enable the development of user-generated permissionless applications (“dApps”), including in the decentralized finance (“DeFi”) space.

BNB Smart Chain is powered by the proof-of-staked-authority consensus protocol (“PoSA”), which combines elements of delegated proof of stake (“DPoS”) and proof-of-authority (“PoA”) by requiring validators to stake BNB and be selected based on stake and reputation. Currently, the number of BNB Smart Chain validator set consists of 45 active validators, comprising 21 “cabinet” (active block-producing) validators, and 24 “candidate” (standby) validators. This design is intended to permit faster block confirmation times and lower transaction fees than some other blockchain networks however, this design may result in greater centralization compared to networks with

larger, more distributed validator sets. Because the active validator set is limited in size relative to some other blockchain networks, control over a relatively small number of validator positions could enable coordinated actors to exert disproportionate influence over the network. If a malicious actor were to obtain control over, or collude with, a sufficient number of validators participating in the proof-of-staked-authority mechanism, such actor could potentially censor transactions, reorder transactions, delay block production, or otherwise interfere with the normal operation of the BNB Smart Chain. Similarly, if a significant number of validators were to cease participation simultaneously, whether due to technical failures, regulatory developments, economic disincentives or coordinated action, the resulting reduction in validator participation could lower the effective security threshold of the network and increase the feasibility of a malicious actor obtaining control. Any such successful attack, prolonged network instability, or perception that the validator structure is insufficiently decentralized could adversely affect market confidence in BNB, decrease the price of BNB, and negatively impact the value of the Shares.