Grayscale’s Smart Contract Fund closed its second-quarter rebalance on August 5 with BNB at the top of the basket: 30.6%, ahead of Ether at 29.47% and Solana at 29.15%. Ether’s market cap runs in the $224 billion to $232 billion range; BNB’s stands at $76 billion to $79 billion.
| Asset | GSC Fund weight (Aug 3, 2026) | Approx. market cap |
|---|---|---|
| BNB | 30.6% | $76B to $79B |
| Ether | 29.47% | $224B to $232B |
The near-equal weights are the result of the index’s 30% cap. CoinDesk Indices, behind the Smart Contract Fund’s underlying index, states in its methodology, that constituents are weighted by market cap “subject to a 30% cap.”
$BNB now makes up the largest portion (~31%) of @grayscale‘s Smart Contract Fund 👀 https://t.co/sfBf9DjvRV
— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) August 6, 2026
Any constituent large enough to clear that ceiling gets held there even if how far past the threshold its actual market cap runs, and the excess weight gets redistributed across the rest of the basket.
In May 2026, Grayscale filed the first proposed U.S. spot ETF tied to the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC), expanding its crypto investment offerings beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.
What Changed Since Q1
Set side by side, the quarter-over-quarter shift is smaller than the headline suggests for two of the three top names, and much larger than it suggests for a fourth. At the Q1 2026 close on May 1, the fund held Ether at 30.14% and Solana at 29.69%.
The addition compressed Ether and Solana’s allocations by less than one percentage point. Cardano is the outlier: it dropped from 17.96% to 4.88%, a reduction far too large to be explained by dilution alone. That decline reflects more than the addition of BNB.
| Asset | Q1 2026 (May 1) | Q2 2026 (Aug 3) |
|---|---|---|
| BNB | not held | 30.6% |
| Ether | 30.14% | 29.47% |
| Solana | 29.69% | 29.15% |
| Cardano | 17.96% | 4.88% |
Why the SEC Dismissal Mattered More Than Zhao’s Pardon
The compliance question behind on August 5 move is why a custody-vetted benchmark would clear BNB for a regulated wrapper at all. Grayscale’s release is that Fund Components have to meet certain trading and requirements, the kind of screen BNB spent years failing, for reasons more than the Binance settlement most coverage cites.
That $4.3 billion DOJ deal, under which Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to an anti-money-laundering charge and served four months in prison, was a criminal settlement over Binance’s own conduct.
That question was in a parallel SEC civil suit filed the same month, and a 2024 order from Judge Amy Berman Jackson let it proceed as to Binance’s own BNB sales: the court found the SEC had plausibly alleged those sales were unregistered investment contracts, while dismissing the narrower claim covering secondary-market BNB trades. What would have given a compliance committee a documented reason to keep BNB out of an index. The SEC and Binance jointly dismissed that suit with prejudice on May 29, 2025.
The distinction matters for sequencing: the SEC’s dismissal is the regulatory path for a product built to hold BNB; the pardon is adjacent to it. Grayscale’s BNB ETF filing, still lists a determination that BNB “is or involves a transaction in a security” as an open, unresolved risk factor as of its most recent amendment.
The Seven-Month Build-Out: S-1, GDLC, and August 5
It formed a Delaware trust for a standalone Grayscale BNB ETF on January 8, 2026, and filed the S-1 on January 23, about three months after the pardon and eight months after the SEC dropped its case.
Eleven days later, on February 3, it swapped BNB in for Cardano in its flagship multi-asset ETF (GDLC), citing the same market-cap, liquidity, and language it uses across every product.
- June 5, 2023: SEC sues Binance, BAM Trading, and Changpeng Zhao, alleging BNB itself was sold as an unregistered security, among 13 total claims.
- November 2023: Binance and Zhao reach a $4.3 billion settlement with the DOJ; Zhao pleads guilty to an anti-money-laundering charge.
- June 28, 2024: Judge Amy Berman Jackson allows the SEC’s claim over Binance’s own BNB sales to proceed, while dismissing the claim covering secondary-market BNB trades.
- February 2025: The SEC and Binance jointly seek a 60-day stay in the case.
- May 29, 2025: The SEC and Binance jointly dismiss the case with prejudice.
- October 23, 2025: President Trump pardons Changpeng Zhao.
- January 8, 2026: Grayscale forms a Delaware trust for a standalone BNB ETF.
- January 23, 2026: Grayscale files the S-1 for the Grayscale BNB ETF (GBNB).
- February 3, 2026: Grayscale swaps BNB in for Cardano in GDLC, its multi-asset ETF.
- June 3, 2026: Grayscale files Amendment No. 3 to the GBNB S-1; still pending.
- August 5, 2026: BNB enters Grayscale’s Smart Contract Fund at 30.6%, its largest holding.
Disclaimer: Cryip's content is strictly for educational and informational purposes and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Cryptocurrency involves significant risk, and readers assume full responsibility for their own financial decisions. Asset references are never endorsements.
To make complex crypto topics accessible to readers at all experience levels, our team uses AI tools strictly to refine language, correct grammar, and simplify terminology. AI is never used to draft facts, source information, or form conclusions. Every article is fact-checked and approved by a human editor before publication. Read our full AI Use & Content Policy.
