In an updated S-1 filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 21, the asset manager VanEck excluded the possibility of staking. The document clarified that, within the scope of this ETF, the company does not plan to generate income from such operations, neither at launch nor at a later stage.
The new filing points to anticipated complications and regulatory risks surrounding BNB and staking services. This caution may stem from the fact that in 2023, the SEC filed lawsuits against Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, citing the trading of unregistered securities. At the time, the regulator designated 68 digital assets as securities, including BNB.
Despite a U.S. federal court ruling in the same year that secondary sales of the BNB token were not securities transactions, VanEck stated in its new application:
“The test for determining whether a specific digital asset is a security is complex, difficult to apply, and its outcome is hard to predict.”
Earlier this month, VanEck launched the third U.S. ETF on Solana, which does include staking yield.
VanEck noted that classifying BNB as a security could lower the share value, and the ETF's performance would trail that of holding BNB directly. In such a scenario, the ETF could be liquidated either through the company’s own initiative or following a ruling by a regulator or a court. They stated, however, they do not intend to dissolve the trust if there are grounds not to consider BNB a security at the current moment.
VanEck first filed for a BNB ETF in May. At that time, company representatives allowed for the possibility that a portion of the assets might be allocated to staking through vetted third-party providers.
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