BNB Smart Chain (BSC) is set to undergo a series of hard fork upgrades aimed at enhancing the user experience and helping the blockchain network associated with crypto exchange Binance remain competitive with Ethereum.
The Tycho hard fork, which was rolled out on testnet in April and is expected to be on mainnet in mid-June, introduces a new type of transaction involving blobs, a type of memory space for storing transaction data.
Blob transactions have been available on the Ethereum layer 2 network since March, when Ethereum developers activated the Dencun upgrade. Blob transactions on BNB Smart Chain enabled by BEP-336 are intended to bring cheaper transactions and higher throughput to BSC.
Read More: Ethereum Completes Milestone Dencun Upgrade, Which Should Substantially Reduce Fees
Blobs on Binance Smart Chain Vs. Ethereum
The difference between blob transactions on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain stems from their implementation methods and architectures, according to a blog post from BNB Chain published on Wednesday. “BSC embeds blob blocks directly into its nodes, whereas Ethereum houses blob blocks on the Consensus Layer. Additionally, BSC employs a dynamic pricing model for blobs within a predefined range, whereas Ethereum relies solely on dynamic pricing” according to the post.
BNB Greenfield and opBNB — BNB Chain’s data storage system and layer 2 network, respectively — will also go through their own hard fork upgrade. The BNB Greenfield network hard fork introduces new cross-chain channels, among other things, while the opBNB hard fork plans “to lead a noticeable reduction in the cost of opBNB, making the platform more cost-effective for users,” BNB Chain’s blog post stated.
The opBNB hard fork was scheduled for testnet Wednesday between 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. UTC, while the Greenfield hard fork activated on testnet Thursday at 7:00 a.m. UTC.
Read More: BNB Chain Released Layer 2 EVM Testnet Based on Optimism
BSC’s upgrades copy the latest changes to Ethereum and help “make layer 2s on BNB Chain more viable long-term, most popularly opBNB,” wrote Flipside Crypto data scientist Carlos Mercado to Unchained over Telegram. “BEP-336 is essentially EIP-4844 (Blobs) to make layer 2s cheaper, with some tweaks for minimum and maximum blob pricing.”
Mercado, however, said, “I’d hesitate to overthink the upgrades as anything beyond keeping BSC competitive with ETH on technology.”
The price of BNB, the native token for BNB Smart Chain, has decreased 3% in the past 24 hours from $583 to $565 at the time of publication, data from CoinGecko shows.
