BNB Chain looks to deploy four hard forks on opBNB, its Optimistic layer-2 solution, with an aim to significantly reduce gas cost by up to 10x.
The team behind BNB Chain has announced a series of upgrades to their layer-2 network, opBNB, in a move to enhance the efficiency of transactions. These upgrades, coming in the form of hard forks, are set to drastically reduce gas costs by tenfold.
BNB Chain announced on X today that it has scheduled four sequential hard forks on the opBNB testnet, which will commence at 6 AM UTC on May 15. These forks are part of a broader strategy to transition the testnet’s data architecture in a way that optimizes transaction processing and cost.
📣 Announcing 4 hardforks on opBNB testnet! Gas cost on opBNB will be 10x lower! 🤩
📆 Scheduled: between 6AM and 6:30AM UTC, May 15.
‼️ All opBNB testnet nodes must be upgraded to the latest version before 6AM UTC, May 15. ⏰
Details 👉 https://t.co/w5cpWyyGA1
— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) May 9, 2024
For the uninitiated, a hard fork is a significant change or upgrade to a blockchain network that is not backward compatible. In this case, the hard forks will introduce a new data format called “blob,” or Binary Large Object. This format allows for more efficient storage and retrieval of data, leading to faster and cheaper transactions.
To achieve this, blobs temporarily hold transaction information, reducing the data processing workload. Enshrined in Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, blobs have significantly cut transaction costs and quickened speeds across Ethereum layer-2 networks that have adopted them, including ZkSync and Starknet.
Per data on GitHub, four upcoming opBNB hard forks, named Snow Time, Shanghai/Canyon Time, Delta Time, and Cancun/Ecotone Time, will take place within a 30-minute window, each introducing incremental changes to the network.
These changes are crucial for node operators on the testnet, who must update their systems to the latest version before the first fork to ensure seamless transition and continued participation in the network.
BNB Chain Sets Roadmap for opBNB
opBNB is a layer-2 network on the Binance Smart Chain that employs Optimism’s OP Stack framework to provide a scalable and cost-efficient solution for transactions. The solution is designed to significantly reduce gas fees while increasing transaction speed, making it an attractive option for developers and users.
The latest upgrades to the layer-2 network’s testnet involve removing certain configurations and adding new ones to streamline the operation of nodes. These updates would come exactly one month after BNB Chain introduced the Snow hard fork to opBNB mainnet.
opBNB Mainnet's Snow hardfork set for Apr 15, 6AM UTC. ⏰
📣 All op-nodes MUST upgrade to v0.3.2 before Apr 9, 6AM UTC.
The hardfork optimizes L1 gas price of all L2 transactions, reducing to 1 Gwei & setting auto-adjustments. 🤩
Learn more here ➡️ https://t.co/ojC5n4tMxu pic.twitter.com/wSnubMDuMt
— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) April 8, 2024
Notably, the consistent developments are part of a broader roadmap for opBNB, with eight objectives set to be completed this quarter. The team has achieved four objectives, with the latest one involving the integration of blob transactions representing the fifth.
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