BNB Smart Chain’s Maxwell upgrade has successfully deployed, reducing average block times from 1.5 seconds to 0.8 seconds.
The hard fork, initially scheduled for June 30 at 2:30 AM UTC (testnet launched May 26), aims to cut block times by half.
BNB Chain highlighted benefits including faster user transactions, improved DApp responsiveness for developers, enhanced DeFi latency, increased scalability, and better validator coordination. “This isn’t just another upgrade – it’s a technical leap forward,” the team stated.
The reduction builds upon the Lorentz upgrade (April) which lowered block times from three seconds to 1.5 seconds.
Hard Fork Hopes To Make Messaging Faster, More Efficient
Implemented via three proposals (BEP-524, BEP-563, BEP-564) to enhance the network’s speed and reliability:
- BEP-563: Improves peer-to-peer messaging between validators, preventing missed votes and sync delays, crucial for reaching the target sub-second block time.
- BEP-564: Introduces ‘GetBlocksByRangeMsg’ and ‘RangeBlocksMsg’ for requesting and delivering multiple blocks simultaneously, significantly improving network sync speeds.
- BEP-524: Directly reduces block time.
Developers And Validators Should Prepare
The BNB Chain team advised developers to test DApps under the stricter 0.75-second block timing and review time-sensitive logic. They emphasized “If something breaks, it’s probably your code – not the chain.”
Validators are encouraged to benchmark systems for 0.75-second intervals, anticipating higher message throughput and faster consensus cycles.
BNB Price Trades Up Ahead Of Upgrade
In the week leading up to the upgrade, BNB’s price surged by approximately 6.5%, trading between $617 and $655.
Following the upgrade’s successful deployment, BNB traded around $655, up 1.2% in the past 24 hours, though still about 17% below its all-time high of $788 (hit Dec 4, 2021).
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