In an upcoming hard fork called “ZhangHeng,” the BNB Beacon Chain mainnet operated by Binance will incorporate a new feature that allows the blockchain to “halt” block production under specific conditions. The upgrade, expected to take place on July 19 at block height 328,088,888, aims to enhance security and mitigate potential damage from cross-chain bridge exploits.
The introduction of Binance Evolution Proposal BEP-255 is a significant part of this hard fork. This proposal seeks to implement “on-chain asset reconciliation” to protect assets on the BNB Beacon Chain itself. Following the Binance Smart Chain exploit in October 2022, Binance recognized the need for improved security measures beyond cross-chain enhancements like BEP171. Under BEP-255, balance changes will be tracked and reconciled in each block to identify any discrepancies. If reconciliation errors occur, the blockchain will enter a panic state and cease producing new blocks. Although this action affects downstream services such as bridges, deposits, and withdrawals on exchanges, it is considered necessary to safeguard the chain and its users.
Another crucial improvement addresses the prevention of “Rogue Key Attacks.” This security issue involves a perpetrator generating a valid aggregate signature for a transaction without owning the private keys. To fix this bug, existing vote addresses will be cleared when the hard fork’s height is reached, and validators will need to add vote addresses again.
The hard fork will also enhance the chain’s capability to handle more complex business rules and logic. However, for a smooth transition, two-thirds of validators must switch their software version to v0.10.16 before the hard fork. Failure to upgrade full nodes will result in the inability to execute further blocks after the hard fork block height.
To comply with the hard fork upgrade, BNB Chain provides detailed instructions for node operators. However, BNB token holders who utilize Binance.com, other centralized exchanges, or cold wallets currently do not need to take any action.
In a separate development, BNB Chain recently launched opBNB, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible layer-2 scaling solution based on Optimism’s OP Stack. This innovative solution aims to overcome scalability challenges associated with Layer 1 (L1) networks.
As the blockchain ecosystem continues to evolve, the BNB Beacon Chain’s hard fork with its new “panic” feature and other upgrades demonstrates Binance’s commitment to enhancing security and resilience against potential exploits.