Technology Update of BNB Chain in Aug 2022

Major Tech Update in Aug:

1. BSC Release v1.1.13 - A hardfork release for testnet that implements BEP153. This release introduces a native staking protocol onto BNB Smart Chain. With this BEP, individual or institution delegators can stake BNB to specified validators and directly get staking rewards on the BSC side.

NOTE: the mainnet will not launch until we finish the security evaluation, welcome any integration feedback or security report based on testnet.

2. BNB Beacon Chain release v0.10.2 - A hardfork release for testnet that implements BEP153. V0.10.2 introduce a new cross-chain communication application on the Beacon Chain especially for BEP153.

3. zkBNB Open Source - We have finished the refactoring of the proof-of-concept zkBNB phase 1, and it is open-source now!

4. BSC Client based on Erigon - Better support on Erigon-based BSC client.

5. BSC Client based on Akula -  Akula based BSC client, the Rust language node client based on Erigon model, has achieved its phase1 goal: it can fully sync BSC mainnet for more than 10M blocks since genesis.

6. BEP159 Draft -  A core developer draft BEP159, proposing a new open staking mechanism on BNB Beacon Chain.

1. BSC Release v1.1.13

BSC release v1.1.13 is a hardfork release for testnet. The hardfork upgrade named Gibbs is expected to happen at block height 22,800,220. The current block generation speed forecasts this to occur around 13 Sep. 2022 at 7:00 AM (UTC). The validators and full node operators on Testnet should switch their software version to  v1.1.13 by 13 Sep.

Before Gibbs upgrade, the BNB holders could only stake their assets on the BNB Beacon Chain. It means that if their assets are on the BNB Smart Chain, they must transfer them across-chain to the BNB Beacon Chain first, which is not user-friendly enough.

Gibbs upgrade introduces a new staking system contract on the BSC side, all staking-related operations on the BSC side should be initiated through this contract, and then applied across-chain to BNB Beacon Chain through the native cross-chain communication mechanism. With this BEP, the BNB holders can stake in the BSC directly, and dApps can launch their staking service based on the protocol introduced by this BEP, which can diversify the BSC ecosystem.

To know more about BSC V1.1.13, please read the release note.

2. BNB Beacon Chain release v0.10.2

In order to coordinate with BEP-153 which will introduce a native staking module onto BSC, there are some changes to be made, which mainly include a new app to handle requests of BEP153 and necessary modifications to delegation's data structs. Beacon Chain release v0.10.2 is drafted especially for BEP153.

The BNB Beacon Chain testnet is expected to have a scheduled Gibbs upgrade at block height 30,516,226. Based on the current block generation speed, the hard fork is forecasted to occur on 16 Sep. at 7:30 (UTC). The full node runners on testnet must switch their software version to v0.10.2 by 16 Sep.

3. zkBNB Open Source

zkBNB is a trustless and scaling solution for BSC. zkBNB is built on ZK-Rollup architecture. We have done a lot of testing and refactoring in the past few months to approach a stable release. We are finally proud to announce that it is opensource now.

To know more about the implementation details, please refer to the following key repos:

L2 Service: https://github.com/bnb-chain/zkbas

L1 Contract: https://github.com/bnb-chain/zkbas-contract

L2 Circuit: https://github.com/bnb-chain/zkbas-crypto

4. BSC Client based on Erigon

Erigon, a.k.a the previous “turbo-geth”, has been striving hard to improve the storage system of Ethereum/Geth in the past 4 years. Its new storage model with the new database, MPT generation methodology and staged sync has been proven to run much more efficiently than Geth for the large storage.

The BSC client based on Erigon is fully supported in the official repo. Developers can run Erigon-based BSC archive node more efficiently. Besides, the team has built one regular release of Erigon data snapshot for BSC. You can follow the guide to run a BSC full node with better block sync performance.

The team is working on stability and performance improvement. It is expected to roll out a release to support validator in October.

5. BSC Client based on Akula

The team is exploring faster clients to futher scale up the capacity. The new Rust-based BSC client “Akula” is quite promising, now it is under fast development by the team:

1. Full node is partially supported, now it can full sync BSC mainnet for more than 10M blocks since genesis;

2. Validator node is at the early stage right now, we are implementing the 2 missing components: TxPool & Miner Module,  total progress(~20%) ;

6. BEP159 Draft

BEP159 introduces a permissionless validator election mechanism and brings the staking economy onto Beacon Chain.

Anyone can stake their BNB to become a validator candidate or delegate their BNB to the validator candidates they trust. The validator set will be determined by the rank of the accumulated bonded tokens on validator candidates. The validators will be responsible for producing new blocks, In return, they will get block rewards, and share the rewards with delegators. The BNB holder has the superpower to contribute to the security and gain reward. Staking BNB grants the right to vote on proposals and make decisions on the future of the network.

The BEP is under discussion and POC right now, welcome to comment and advise.

Follow us to stay updated on everything BNB Chain!

Website | Twitter | Telegram | Youtube | Gitcoin | Discord | Build N' Build Forum