VanEck Doubles Down on Crypto ETFs—Files for First US BNB Fund After Bitcoin, Ether Wins
Wall Street’s crypto gold rush just got wilder. Fresh off its Bitcoin and Ether ETF victories, VanEck lobs another grenade at the SEC—this time for a BNB exchange-traded fund. Because why stop at two crypto ETFs when you can chase the ’Binance coin’ buzz?
The move comes as no surprise to industry watchers. With crypto ETFs printing money for asset managers (and their 2% expense ratios), VanEck’s playbook reads: ’Strike while the regulatory iron is lukewarm.’
But here’s the twist: BNB’s regulatory baggage makes this a high-stakes gamble. Will the SEC bless a token that’s currently in its legal crosshairs? Either way, Wall Street’s latest crypto craze proves one thing—when profits are on the line, ’compliance’ becomes a flexible concept.
The ETF applications keep coming. American investment manager VanEck is seeking the SEC’s sign-off to introduce the VanEck BNB ETF, an exchange-traded fund directly tracking the price of BNB— the native currency of the BNB Chain, a blockchain network closely related to the world’s largest exchange, Binance.
The VanEck product, if approved, would be the first U.S.-listed ETF to offer investors exposure to BNB.
VanEck Applies For BNB ETF
As filings pile up for proposed U.S. ETFs based on Ripple’s XRP, Dogecoin, Solana, and other crypto assets, VanEck aims to launch the first BNB fund.
The New York-based firm on May 2 filed an S-1 prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a spot BNB ETF that would include staking capabilities.
The filing indicates that, pending regulatory approval from the listing exchange, the ETF may feature staking to allow investors to earn extra yield with their investment.
VanEck’s BNB ETF, if it receives the SEC’s nod, would be the first such product listed in the United States. The fund would hold the BNB tokens and track their price, allowing investors to profit from the token’s performance without needing crypto wallets or using digital asset trading platforms.
The SEC filing came after VanEck registered a new entity under the name VanEck BNB ETF in Delaware for the prospective BNB ETF last month, aiming to be the first company to propose a potential spot BNB fund in the US.
The firm was among the first issuers of Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in the U.S. following their approval in January and July 2024, respectively.
BNB, which Binance launched in July 2017 as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, is described as a “community-driven and decentralized blockchain ecosystem for Web3 decentralized applications.”
At the time of writing, BNB is the fifth-biggest crypto asset by market capitalization, worth about $87 billion, according to data from CoinGecko.
Altcoin ETF Avalanche Under Crypto-Friendly Trump Administration
VanEck’s BNB ETF trust filing is just one of many new US altcoin ETF applications and registrations that have followed Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.
VanEck has also registered to list ETFs tracking the native tokens of Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX).
There are currently over 70 altcoin-related ETF filings awaiting review by the newly sworn-in SEC chief, Paul Atkins. It’s worth mentioning that the regulator recently postponed decisions on Dogecoin and XRP ETFs until at least June.
