VanEck aims to launch the first U.S. ETF that tracks BNB, the token used on the network operated by Binance, the crypto exchange operator that in 2023 pleaded guilty to money laundering and other charges.
New York-based VanEck, which manages $78 billion across 69 ETFs, filed with the SEC May 2 to issue the VanEck BNB ETF. The firm manages a pair of spot crypto ETFs, the $1.4 billion VanEck Bitcoin ETF (HODL) and the $82.4 million VanEck Ethereum ETF (ETHV).
The filing comes amid a flurry of applications for so-called alt-coin ETFs that have flooded the Securities and Exchange Commission since President Donald Trump was sworn in with a promise to take a more permissive stance toward cryptocurrencies. More than 70 applications have been submitted to the SEC, Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas has said, covering tokens ranging from XRP to HBAR to Sol.
BNB, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency with an $84.4 billion market capitalization, has fluctuated wildly over the past year and is currently up 1.7% for that time period, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The digital currency’s link to Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is a risk to investors, according the filing, due to the 2023 settlements with U.S. authorities over money laundering and other charges. Founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, spent four months in prison last year.
BNB launched in 2017 through a so-called initial coin offering. 21Shares trades a BNB ETF in Europe.
VanEck may have chosen to file to create the fund after Zhao said in an interview that he’s been advising governments on creating crypto reserves that would include BNB, Balchunas wrote in an X post.
“Maybe that’s what caught Jan VanEck’s attn and acted on it,” he wrote on X, adding that the filing was widely criticized because “crypto on crypto crime is no joke.”
VanEck’s biggest ETF is the $19.9 billion VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH).
