SEC Filing Document

Company: VanEck BNB ETF
Ticker: 
CIK: 2066824
Filing Type: S-1/A
Document Type: S-1/A
Date Filed: 2026-04-28
Accession Number: 0001628280-26-027783
Exchange: 
SIC Code: 6221
SIC Description: Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers
URL: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2066824/000162828026027783/vaneckbnbs-1a4.htm

Chunk 55 of 91
Word Count: 1486
Character Count: 9236

Document Content:

nodes must accept any changes made to the BNB source code by downloading the proposed modification of the BNB Smart Chain’s source code. A modification of the BNB Smart 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 Smart 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 Smart Chain only if accepted by participants collectively having a majority of the processing power on the BNB Smart Chain.

Core development of the BNB source code has increasingly focused on modifications of the BNB Smart Chain 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 Smart Chain as a whole. Conversely, projects that operate and are built within the BNB Smart Chain may increase the data flow on the BNB Smart Chain and could either “bloat” the size of the BNB Smart Chain or slow confirmation times.

Forms of Attack Against the BNB Smart Chain

All networked systems are vulnerable to various kinds of attacks. As with any computer network, the BNB Smart Chain contains certain flaws. For example, the BNB Smart Chain is currently vulnerable to a “51% attack” (though the numerical thresholds vary in proof-of-staked-authority blockchains) 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 Smart Chain. See “—The BNB Smart 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 April 2026, the top three largest staking pools controlled approximately 15% of the BNB staked on the BNB Smart Chain.

Summary of a BNB Transaction

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

Each BNB Smart 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 Smart Chain software program must validate the transaction with the associated private key. In addition, since every computation on the BNB Smart Chain requires processing power, there is a transaction fee involved with the transfer that is paid by the payor. Transactions on the BNB Smart Chain require the payment of a transaction fee, which is

denominated in BNB and paid by the party initiating the transaction. Transaction fees are calculated using a “gas” mechanism similar to that used by other Ethereum Virtual Machine–compatible blockchains. Each transaction consumes a specified number of gas units based on the computational resources required to execute the transaction, and the total fee is determined by multiplying the gas units used by the prevailing gas price at the time the transaction is submitted. Gas prices fluctuate based on network demand and congestion. As network usage increases, transaction fees may rise as users compete to have their transactions included in the next validated block. Conversely, during periods of lower network activity, transaction fees may decline. Transaction fees largely fund network security by compensating validators for validating transactions and maintaining the BNB Smart Chain. In addition, the BNB protocol includes mechanisms that may reduce the circulating supply of BNB over time. Under BEP-95, a real-time burn mechanism, a portion of gas fees collected in each block is permanently removed from circulation. Separately, the protocol includes a periodic “auto-burn” mechanism that removes additional BNB from circulation based on a formula tied to BNB’s price and the number of blocks produced, with a stated long-term objective of reducing total supply toward 100 million BNB. Because transaction fees are paid in BNB, users must maintain sufficient BNB balances to conduct on-chain transactions. In addition to its use for paying transaction fees, BNB is used for staking and delegation activities, certain governance processes, and utilities on the Binance centralized exchange, such as discounted trading fees and participation in exchange programs. As a result, demand for BNB may be influenced by both on-chain activity and exchange-related use cases. The resulting digitally validated transaction is sent by the user’s BNB Smart Chain software program to the BNB Smart Chain validators for transaction confirmation.

BNB Smart Chain validators record and confirm transactions when they validate and add blocks of information to the BNB Smart 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 Smart 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 Smart Chain software program of both the spending party and the receiving party will show confirmation of the transaction on the BNB Smart Chain and reflect an adjustment to the BNB balance in each party’s BNB Smart Chain public key, completing the BNB transaction. Once a transaction is confirmed on the BNB Smart Chain, it is irreversible.

Some BNB transactions are conducted “off-blockchain” and are therefore not recorded in the BNB Smart 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 Smart 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 Smart Chain and do not reflect a movement of BNB between addresses recorded in the BNB Smart 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 Smart Chain or recorded in, and validated through, the blockchain mechanism.

Creation of New BNB

Initial Creation of BNB

Unlike other digital assets such as Bitcoin, which are solely created through a progressive mining process, 200 million BNB were created in connection with the launch of the Binance ecosystem in 2017. The initial 200 million BNB were distributed as follows:

•Investors: 100 million BNB, or 50% of the supply, were sold in the initial coin offering (ICO) to early investors and participants.

•Binance Team: 80 million BNB, or 40% of the supply, were allocated to the Binance founding team as compensation and to support ongoing development.

•Angel Investors: 20 million BNB, or 10% of the supply, were distributed to early angel investors who provided initial funding for the project.