The BNB Smart Chain has activated its Maxwell hard fork, a significant network upgrade targeting improved scalability and efficiency. Central to this update is the reduction of block times from 1.5 seconds to 0.8 seconds, accelerating transaction processing and bolstering reliability for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
Three core proposals drive the upgrade’s technical improvements. BEP-563 enhances consensus reliability by optimizing block proposal communications, mitigating risks to network stability. BEP-564 introduces new message types—GetBlocksByRangeMsg and RangeBlocksMsg—to streamline block synchronization and strengthen network resilience. Building on the Lorentz upgrade, BEP-524 further refines block time reduction mechanics to support scalable applications.
Market sentiment responded positively ahead of the hard fork, with BNB’s price surging 6.5%. Despite this uptick, the token remains below its all-time high. The Maxwell upgrade positions BNB Smart Chain for heightened performance amid growing demand for efficient blockchain infrastructure.