Grayscale Investments has officially filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking Binance Coin (BNB). The filing, submitted on January 23, 2026, marks a significant step in the asset manager's strategy to expand its altcoin ETF offerings beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The proposed ETF is structured as a Delaware Statutory Trust, which was formally established on January 8, 2026. The fund is designed to provide investors with direct price exposure to BNB, the native token of the BNB Chain, through traditional brokerage and institutional platforms, without requiring direct on-chain custody.
This move is part of a broader push by Grayscale into the altcoin ETF space. Just two days prior, on January 21, the firm filed to convert its NEAR Trust into a spot ETF. Grayscale now finds itself in direct competition with other traditional asset managers, such as VanEck, which has also been exploring a BNB-focused ETF product.
Analysts view a potential spot BNB ETF as a transformative development for the asset, as it would open BNB to institutional investment mandates that are prohibited from holding tokens directly and could enhance liquidity and price discovery through regulated venues. The filing also coincides with technical upgrades to the BNB Chain, including the Fermi hard fork on January 14, 2026, which improved transaction finality and throughput, bolstering the network's institutional narrative.
However, regulatory approval is far from guaranteed. The SEC continues to scrutinize key issues for altcoin ETFs, including classification risks, market surveillance safeguards, and custody frameworks. The filing adds pressure on U.S. regulators to clarify the treatment of major smart-contract and exchange-linked tokens within the existing financial regulatory framework. No immediate market impact or SEC confirmation has been reported following the submission.
