Key Takeaways: 

• Unwavering focus on mass adoption

Building on the milestones from 2023 including, BSC being one of the most actively used L1 blockchains, processing 32M transactions in a day and 2K TPS, and opBNB becoming the most active layer 2 platform with an all-time high of 71M transactions/day and 4.5K TPS, BNB Chain continues its commitment to leveling up the developer experience. BNB Chain’s goal is to develop a super-fast, cost-effective, scalable, developer-friendly, and secure multi-chain strategy for decentralized finance and the Web3 economy.

• Multi-chain strategy

BSC, opBNB, and Greenfield are interconnected to provide a seamless decentralized computing and storage solution. This integration is crucial for scaling large-scale Dapps and facilitating mass adoption.

• BNB Chain fusion 

The BNB Chain Fusion is a strategic shift to migrate the Beacon Chain’s functionalities to BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and retire Beacon Chain. BNB Beacon Chain will be decoded and new governance and staking and MEV PBS will be introduced to BNB Smart Chain (BSC).

• Highest-performance EVM platforms

BSC and opBNB are committed to maintaining their status as the highest-performing EVM L1 and L2 blockchains. Enhancements like the Optimized PBSS (Path-Based-Storage-Scheme)  and Parallel EVM 3.0 will be progressively implemented across all nodes and validators.

• BNB Chain L2s

On opBNB, gas limits will be increased from 100M to 200M, aiming for a throughput of 10K TPS. Leveraging the new EIP4844 and the Data Availability layer on Greenfield, we anticipate a 5-10X reduction in gas fees. Furthermore, the opBNB L2 will evolve from one L2 into ‘opBNB Connect’ to support large-scale application chains.

• Greenfield

Greenfield, designed for 'hot, valuable data', facilitates direct access by opBNB/BSC smart contracts. In under three months, over 480GB of active data has been stored, particularly in infrastructure and applications for AI. In 2024, Greenfield will enhance the development experience (e.g. Greenfield executable, atomic update, paymaster (AA)) and middleware infrastructure (e.g. bundle service, data availability layer) to better meet data processing demands.

• Security enhancements with AvengerDAO

2023 saw an 85% reduction in total losses due to hacking or scams compared to 2022, a significant achievement that is attributed to AvengerDAO initiatives. The new challenge lies in proactively identifying and alerting potential hacks and scams in their earliest stages.

• Foster a mass adoption ecosystem

BNB Chain is committed to building a high-performance infrastructure that supports a variety of applications through initiatives such as the 2024 Hackathon. These include high-frequency DeFi, fully on-chain gaming, AI, DePIN, DeSoc, and more. 

BNB Chain’s goal has not changed

The year 2023 was a “head-down” building year for the BNB Chain community despite the challenges of the bear market. In the last quarter of 2023, BNB Chain underwent rigorous stress testing from the inscription and the emerging bull market cycle, and both BSC and opBNB have proven their performance and scalability: 

• BSC: Registered all-time highs of 32M transactions per day and 2K transactions per second.
• opBNB: Registered all-time highs of 71M transactions per day and 4.5K transactions per second. 

Most importantly, critical infrastructure like explorers, RPC/API services, and indexing services ran smoothly with minimal issues during these spikes. BSC was the most actively used L1 blockchain (with ~1M DAU) and opBNB was the most active L2 in 2023.

BNB Chain’s commitment to mass adoption remains unchanged. We will continue to focus on developing super-fast, cost-effective, scalable, and secure multi-chain strategies for decentralized finance and the Web3 economy. 

In 2023, BNB Chain expanded into a multi-chain framework with opBNB (L2) and Greenfield (storage chain). This 'One BNB' solution addresses both computational and storage requirements for typical Web3 Dapps, making BNB Chain a preferred choice for Web3 developers.

A lot of interesting projects are leveraging these new multi-chain paradigms:

1. Several BSC projects with high transaction volumes, like Hooked, are utilizing both BSC and opBNB. These projects deploy gas-sensitive transactions, such as game logic, to opBNB, while securing valuable assets on BSC to benefit from its robust liquidity. 
2. Meanwhile, some Dapps, including MDEX and 4Everland, are exploring the full potential of Greenfield by building fully-on-chain applications.
3. The multichain paradigm inspires new ideas, particularly in AI and its DePIN protocols. Comprehensive AI protocols are now being built on BNB Chain. These include Glacier (dDatabase), Glows.ai (decentralized Hugging Face), and AI-related applications like QnA3, and NFPrompt. 

2023 was just the beginning of the 'One BNB multi-chain' journey, with lots of ideas and feedback gathered from the BNB Chain community. In this outlook, we highlight key focus areas for 2024, continuing our journey towards innovative blockchain solutions.

Table 1: 2024 Tech Outlook Table

Why the “One BNB” multi-chain paradigm?

Over the past few years, Web3 applications have predominantly centered on partially on-chain models. Assets (both fungible and non-fungible tokens) and business logic governed by smart contracts are typically deployed and executed on-chain. 

The blockchain technology stack must continue to prioritize and advance decentralization and censorship resistance rather than solely concentrating on business and financial returns. Web3 applications have the same issues and most of the Dapps are in the “weak or partially Web3” phase currently. 

For instance, consider a typical Web3 game, which generally includes:

• Game assets: Governance and rewards tokens (fungible tokens), game assets (non-fungible tokens). Most of these are on-chain with robust liquidity. 
• Business logic (game logic): While some elements are implemented as smart contracts, many complex game functions still operate off-chain.
• Application data: This encompasses player data and state transparency, which are often stored in centralized SQL or NoSQL databases.

Starting from 2024, the Web3 industry is shifting its focus towards fully on-chain (FoC) Dapps. However, developers lack a comprehensive, integrated tech stack to transition their applications from a weak Web3 model to a fully on-chain Web3 framework. This gap in the market is precisely why BNB Chain has introduced the new “One BNB” multi-chain paradigm.

BNB Chain encompasses multiple chains, including BNB Smart Chain (BSC), opBNB, and Greenfield. These chains are not separated but are interconnected, providing a unified “One BNB” solution that caters to both decentralized computing and storage needs. A typical Web3 Dapp tech architecture across our interoperable chains can include:

(NOTE: This architecture is a simplified version of a Dapp, and a lot of infrastructures such as Wallet as a Service (WaaS), and data indexing, are not included.)

• Application Packages: Entire web applications can be hosted using Greenfield's web Hosting solution, (e.g., 4Everland).
• Business logic: Dapps have the flexibility to deploy their assets and business logic on BSC (L1) or opBNB (L2), depending on their scalability needs and pricing models (transaction fees).

Table 2: BSC/opBNB Comparison as of 2023 Q4

(*ATH TPS)

• Data Processing and Storage: Dapps can store their non-structural data in Greenfield and link them to their smart contracts. For instance, NFPrompt uses Greenfield to share NFT-related images, while Friend3 stores messages. Additionally, the decentralized database Glacier is utilized for saving structured or vectorized data.

BNB Chain fusion and new BSC staking and governance 

In 2023, BNB Chain initiated a further decentralization process, gradually increasing its active validators from 21 to 40. The Beacon Chain increasingly became redundant and complicated development due to its cross-chain bridge connection to BSC. To address these issues, the BNB Chain Fusion was introduced. This initiative aims to migrate the functionalities of the Beacon Chain to BSC and retire the Beacon Chain. This change will streamline the blockchain layers and accelerate the decentralization process in both network and governance.

• Governance Engagement: Currently, only validators can vote on proposals or changes within BNB Chain. Post-fusion, this will expand to include all delegators.
• Liquidity Staking: More than 22 million BNB, currently locked in the BNB Beacon Chain, stand to potentially be released and allow these assets to participate in BSC's liquidity staking DeFi protocols, similar to those in Ethereum and other Proof of Stake (PoS) chains.

(From BNB Chain Fusion 6 month plan)

Presently, the BNB Chain ecosystem hosts three major MEV solutions: Puissain, TxBoost, and BloxRoutes. Many validators reported increased profitability in 2023 (improvements ranged from 7% to 15%) due to their integration with MEV providers. Following discussions with these key players, a new MEV PBS (Proposer-Builder Separation) mechanism is set to launch in 2024. This development aims to reduce the fragmentation and complexity of existing MEV solutions, fostering a more transparent and robust MEV market within BSC.

With the BNB Chain fusion and the new MEV mechanism, BSC will keep increasing the potential profitability of the validators and delegators and will aim to grow from 40 to 100 validators in 2024. 

Highest performance EVM platforms

Performance is a critical aspect in achieving mass adoption. In 2023, BNB Chain experienced several all-time highs (ATHs), with BSC reaching 32 million transactions per day and 2K TPS, and opBNB achieving 71 million transactions per day and 4.5K TPS. These milestones established BNB Chain as one of the highest-performing blockchains among all EVM-compatible blockchains. 

Notably, BNB Chain was also the first to experiment with increasing gas limits and implementing parallel EVM. In 2024, BNB Chain is set to make significant strides in improving all key metrics, including TPS, EVM execution, and storage efficiencies. The goal is to continue leading as the best EVM platform with the highest performance.

Increased Block Gas Limit to 140M

A key factor that can constrain the performance of blockchain technology is block size. For EVM-compatible blockchains, this is expressed as the block gas limit.

In 2023, BSC successfully increased its gas limit to 140M, which is approximately 4.6 times higher than that of the Ethereum network and the largest among all EVM-compatible networks. opBNB started with an initial gas limit of 100M. In 2024, while the BSC gas limit will remain at 140M, the focus will shift to state and storage optimization. 

Managing a high gas limit introduces greater challenges in block processing efficiency and storage, such as offline pruning. To address this, an optimized PBSS (Path-Based-Storage-Scheme) and PebbleDB have been introduced. PBSS, introduced in BSC v1.3.1-beta, optimizes MPT trie tree access, enhancing efficiency, and facilitating inline state pruning. This scheme effectively controls storage size and offers a seamless user experience, eliminating the need for offline pruning. This proposal is currently being piloted by multiple validators. BSC has experienced a notable performance improvement with the average time to import a block decreasing from 698ms to 531ms – a reduction of about 24%.

Parallel EVM

Parallel EVM is an innovative extension of the EVM that enables the execution of multiple instructions simultaneously, significantly boosting network performance. It has become a hot topic in Web3 communities. 

However, the implementation of parallel execution within the EVM is challenging. Since May 2022, NodeReal and the BNB Chain core team have collaboratively designed and deployed several iterations to the BSC mainnet.

• Implementation of Parallel EVM 1.0
• New Milestone: The Implementation of Parallel EVM 2.0

These initial versions laid the groundwork in terms of foundation and architecture and established the necessary workflows. We observed marked improvements in EVM execution performance. For example, the total block process (including execution, validation, and commit) cost was reduced by between 20% and 50%, varying with different block patterns.

From: https://github.com/node-real/bsc/pull/30 

The upcoming parallel EVM 3.0 aims to refine and optimize the features introduced in version 2.0. A significant addition will be the method of profile-guided, hint-based parallel EVM optimization. This technique involves generating hints of parallelism before transaction execution to guide the actual execution process. Parallel EVM 3.0 will eventually be implemented across full nodes and validators on both opBNB and BSC.

Scalability: From one opBNB to opBNB Connect

The opBNB mainnet, launched in September 2023, is an EVM compatible Layer 2 chain based on the Optimism OP Stack. It has already demonstrated itself as the cheapest and highest-performing blockchain on mainnet.

In 2024, the opBNB L2 will focus on the following areas to ensure continuous optimization:

• Target 10K TPS: Increase the gas limits of opBNB from 100M/second to 200M/second and become the highest-capacity L2. 
• Embrace multiple proofs: Provide a more flexible and secure proof mechanism for the optimistic rollup, starting with fraud proofing. We anticipate opBNB reaching Stage 1 in 2024, with the eventual goal of advancing to Stage 2.

Furthermore, a lot of large-scale Dapps with potentially large user bases (e.g., >500K daily active users), such as games, DeSoc, DePIN, or others, might prefer to build their own L2s to create an ecosystem for their own developers and projects.

opBNB will adopt and contribute to the Optimism Superchain ideas to build opBNB Connect and offer secure and scalable solutions here:

• Decentralized and shared sequencers: L2s of opBNB Connect can contribute to and share sequencers to standardize security properties and enhance decentralization. 
• Customized gas token: Different L2s on opBNB Connect will have the flexibility to use their own tokens as gas fees.
• Permissionless bridges: All the L2s of opBNB Connect are not siloed, and they should be connected seamlessly. Not just for bridge assets, but also for the composition of the different protocols, such as lending assets in one L2 and using borrowed assets in an Automated Market Maker in another L2 directly
• Data availability layer on Greenfield: Design the data availability layer on BSC based on EIP4844 and BNB Greenfield. It will aim to reduce the transaction cost by 5 to 10 times compared to the current level. 

Greenfield

Greenfield is building a comprehensive infrastructure that boasts high performance, built-in access control, and EVM-compatible programmability. This is achieved through seamless integration with BSC and opBNB to energize the Web3 data economy.

The Greenfield mainnet was launched in October of 2023. As a vital component of the BNB Chain multi-chain paradigm, Greenfield distinguishes itself by focusing not on "low-touch or cold" data, but rather on "hot, valuable data." This data can be directly accessed by opBNB/BSC smart contracts. We have witnessed remarkable uptake in just three months, with more than 480G of active data stored and over 30 Dapps now building on Greenfield.

These include:

• Comprehensive middleware infrastructures including databases (glacier.io), dCDN (Meson.io), and Web Hosting (4Everland.io)
• Decentralized AI Infra and AI-powered applications are pilots now (see AI Section for more). 

In 2024, the Greenfield core team will focus on:

• Highest performance: Currently, the upload speed is about 2MB/s and the download speed is about 20MB/s. The target is to increase the SP performance by 5x. 
• Improved developer experience: Greenfield has already released a set of basic features that lay the groundwork for more complex developments. Some new features like paymaster, and bundle service, will be introduced here. 
• Efficient data retrieval: To fully leverage the Greenfield SP network and provide users with faster data access services, there is a desire to build a multi-part storage solution specifically designed for large files on Greenfield.
• Off-chain generic computing: Greenfield Executable is proposed to transform data processing for large-scale datasets off-chain to reduce cost and improve efficiency.
• Multi-chain Platform: The basic cross-chain programmability is already enabled between Greenfield, BSC, and opBNB. The Greenfield blockchain will improve the features on smart contracts as resource owner, not just EoA addresses, and support cross-chain communication with opBNB Connect and more EVM-compatible chains in both BNB Chain and others. 

At the same time, the BNB Chain community will work together to build more application-specific data infra for Web3 gaming, DePIN, DeSoc, and others. 

AvengerDAO

AvengerDAO is dedicated to safeguarding users from financial losses and malicious contracts. To accomplish this, the initiative has partnered with leading global security providers and blockchain applications. These collaborations focus on proactively detecting and alerting users about malicious actors, as well as promoting safety and security awareness within the ecosystem. 

Impressively, compared to 2022, the total loss from hacking or scams decreased by 85% in 2023, a significant achievement largely attributed to AvengerDAO's efforts. 

These include:

• Proactive identification and alerts: In 2023, RedAlarm issued 3,588 alarms, including 330 alerts from AvengerDAO partners (e.g., HashDit Twitter, with nearly daily updates).
• Risk detection API development: This API was built and integrated with protocols that have substantial liquidity and large user bases, such as PancakeSwap and TrustWallet.
• Publication of Web3 security best practices: AvengerDAO has been instrumental in disseminating best practices for Web3 security frameworks.

In 2024, AvengerDAO will continue: 

• Monitoring high-liquidity projects: This includes minimizing potential hacking risks through code analysis of new features, integrating the risk detection API, and conducting continuous on-chain risk analysis.
• Conducting frequent blockchain scans: These scans aim to identify scams in their very early stages.
• Collaborating on Web3 security: AvengerDAO will continue working closely with BNB Chain builders to implement and uphold the best practices in Web3 security frameworks.

Mass adoption opportunities

High-frequency DeFi (HDF) on opBNB and other L2s

High-frequency DeFi usually requires executing a large number of transactions at extremely high speeds. As opBNB is targeting 10K TPS, fully on-chain HDF will become possible. In 2024, opBNB will aim to empower:

• Perpetuals
• Prediction markets
• (Streaming) payments with strong stablecoins such as FDUSD
• Social trading, trading bots, and more

Top players, such as dYdX chain and Frax Finance are paving the way for DeFi on L2s.

Fully on-chain gaming

As highlighted in the multi-chain paradigm, opBNB and Greenfield can be good solutions to empower fully on-chain games. Game logic, game data, and game assets can be stored and processed within the BNB Chain ecosystem.

• BNB Smart Chain and opBNB are tailored for gaming logic and economics
• Greenfield is designed for gaming data, not just storing data, and all CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations can be handled
• A key focus for 2024 is bringing a fully on-chain Web3 game engine to the BNB Chain ecosystem

AI

2023 was the first year of AI's massive adoption across the whole industry. However, it also raised concerns about the potential decentralization of AI infrastructure and the fairness of its usage. There is a very natural synergy between AI and Web3 and within less than three months, the BNB Chain community built a very comprehensive AI infrastructure. This ranged from AI modeling and AI data storage to labeling and innovative AI-based Dapps on BSC, opBNB, and Greenfield (NFPrompt, QnA3, etc.) 

In 2024, the BNB Chain community will focus on building and empowering fully decentralized AI infrastructure, such as:

• AI Data Quality: To transform how data is generated and consumed, and increase data readiness, data quality, and data attestation (deep fake avoidance). 
• AI DePIN: Leverage the decentralized power of computation worldwide, and enhance the efficiency of computation.
• AI modeling: Optimize the workflow by simplifying the deployment and integration of data modeling, and fine-tuning processes.

Furthermore, more Web3 Dapps in all the different categories like DeFi, gaming, NFTs and SocialFi will leverage AI to improve their efficiency and productivity. 

DePIN

DePIN in Web3 signifies a groundbreaking fusion of blockchain, IoT, and tokenomics. It creates a dynamic ecosystem for decentralized physical networks (such as telecommunication networks, CPU/GPU networks) and data networks (such as maps co-creation, datasets labeling, energy-saving networks, and privacy patience data networks).  

BNB Chain’s multi-chain paradigm has already set up a solid foundation to speed up DePIN deployment. Using telecommunications as an example: 

• L1 blockchain (BSC) or L2 blockchain (opBNB) for financial settlement
• Dedicated L2 networks (opBNB Connect) for complex telecommunications business logic
• Dedicated decentralized storage (Greenfield) for data collection and distribution

DeSoc (Decentralized Social)

The mass adoption opportunities for DeSoc are vast, as users increasingly seek alternatives to traditional social media that are plagued by centralized control and privacy concerns. In DeSoc, users can truly own their data, control access, and participate in decentralized communities. Content creators, influencers, and users alike stand to benefit from a more equitable and rewarding social ecosystem. This is the original spirit of Greenfield, which was created to empower the new data economy. 

A one-stop holistic DeSoC ecosystem should not only include infrastructures like feed, credentials, and messaging, but also new innovative and decentralized social media Dapps.

High-performance infra

High-performance infrastructure is primed for mass adoption in Web3, and BNB Chain is exploring how to improve the user experience.

• High-performance explorers can provide users with an immersive and insightful journey through comprehensive data analytics and real-time information. 
• Data indexing and analytics empower users to extract valuable insights from extensive on-chain data. 
• The RPC (Remote Procedure Call) service is the heartbeat of infrastructure, delivering a lightning-fast gateway. 
• With the adoption of the account abstraction (AA) wallet, Web3 infrastructure is almost ready to onboard the next billion users.
• Rollup as a Service (RaaS) has potential business cases across a diverse range of projects and entities, especially for those seeking to boost scalability and efficiency. Some RaaS players, e.g. NodeReal RaaS, and AltLayer, are working on innovative solutions.

Conclusion

In 2024, BNB Chain will continue its commitment to the highest performance, high scalability, and prioritizing security. In line with the 'One BNB' multi-chain concept, BNB Chain L2s will evolve into 'opBNB Connect' for mass adoption, while Greenfield will maintain its role as an innovative component. BNB Chain is well-prepared in terms of infrastructure and ecosystem for mass adoption in high frequency DeFi, fully on-chain games, AI, DePIN, DeSoc, and more.