The BNB Smart Chain just completed its “Maxwell” hard fork, slashing average block times to just 0.8 seconds, down from 1.5 seconds. The upgrade officially went live on June 30 at 2:30 am UTC, following a Testnet launch on May 26.
According to BNB Chain, the upgrade is expected to make transactions faster, decentralized apps (DApps) more responsive, and improve validator synchronization and network scalability.
Taking to their official X account, the BNB Chain team said the upgrade is seen as a leap forward.
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What should you know about the Maxwell Hard Fork?
The Maxwell upgrade includes three main proposals, BEP-524, BEP-563, and BEP-564, each focused on improving speed, reliability, and validator coordination.
BEP-524 is particularly aimed at reducing block time. It follows April’s Lorentz upgrade, which had already cut block times from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds.
Meanwhile, BEP-563 will improve communication between validators, allowing them to send and receive block proposals faster. This helps prevent missed votes or syncing delays, key to reaching the 0.75-second block time goal.
Finally, BEP-564 will add two new types of network messages, which allow nodes to request and receive multiple blocks at once, to boost sync speeds across the network.
Maxwell hard fork is part of BNB Chain’s broader strategy to make its blockchain faster and more efficient, especially for DeFi apps and developers who rely on high performance infrastructure.
