By
Chimamanda U. Martha
May 28th, 2024
BNB Chain, the blockchain protocol associated with Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has successfully completed its latest upgrade, the Haber hard fork, known as BEP 336.
This upgrade, inspired by Ethereum is designed to significantly enhance the network’s performance, security, and functionality. In a blog post on June 20, BNB Chain announced that the BEP 336 upgrade is now live on the mainnet, marking a major milestone in the blockchain’s development. The hard fork was initially rolled out on the testnet in April this year.
Key Features of the BSC Upgrade
The network said it drew inspiration from Ethereum’s EIP 4844, which was introduced earlier this year through the Dencun upgrade, to improve the overall performance of the network.
In an accompanying announcement on X, the protocol said that users can now enjoy reduced gas fees and other enhancements that came with the upgrade. Transaction fees for all Binance Smart Chain (BSC) contracts have now been slashed by up to 90%.
The upgrade also introduced a new feature into the BNB Chain called “Blob-Carrying Transactions” (BlobTx), a type of memory space for storing transaction data. The protocol explained that instead of verifying each transaction within a block individually, the BNB Chain now needs to verify the data within the attached blob.
This feature has been available on Ethereum layer-2 networks since the completion of the Duncan upgrade in March. However, according to industry executives like Arthur Breitman, the co-founder of the Tezos blockchain, blobs will not solve all the underlying challenges of the scaling solutions on Ethereum.
Broader Impact on the BNB Chain Ecosystem
BNB Chain said the introduction of BEP 336 aims to create a more robust and scalable infrastructure, benefiting both developers and users.
According to the network, the upgrade will have a major impact on BNB Greenfield. Additionally, the upgrade promises efficient data management and an enhanced user experience.
“With lower costs and improved efficiency, BEP 336 makes the BSC ecosystem more accessible to a broader audience, from seasoned developers to blockchain novices. This upgrade also promises to benefit opBNB and other Layer 2 (L2) solutions on BSC,” the protocol wrote.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time the network has undergone an upgrade to improve its performance and remain competitive in the crypto market.
Last year, BNB Chain went through two major upgrades to improve the network. The first upgrade was targeted at enhancing the protocol’s security to tighten the grip against malicious blockchain reorganization, while the second was aimed at increasing compatibility with other Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) blockchains.
The two upgrades, known as Plato and Hertz, were successfully completed on August 10 and 30 of 2023, respectively.
