• BNB Beacon Chain is expected to undergo a scheduled hard fork upgrade on 19th July at 6:00 UTC, with enhanced security features for users.
• The upgrade will include two major security changes; BEP-255 and bug fix for the vulnerability ‚Rogue Key Attack‘.
• The hard fork will have no direct impact on most users, and validators must upgrade their nodes before reaching the block height of 328,088,888.
BNB Chain Schedules Hard Fork Upgrade
The BNB Beacon Chain, the Binance blockchain ecosystem, is expected to undergo a scheduled hard fork upgrade on 19th July at 6:00 UTC. Dubbed “ZhangHeng” after a Chinese scientist, the hard fork will occur at block height 328,088,888 and bring enhanced security measures for users.
No Action Required from Users
Most users do not need to take any action during the hard fork unless notified by their exchange or wallet service provider. Full node operators on the mainnet are required to upgrade their software version to v0.10.16 before reaching the block height of 328,088,888 in order to remain connected with upgraded peers/validators post-forking.
Security Enhancements
The project announced two major security changes in the upgrade; BEP-255 which proposes on-chain asset reconciliation on BNB Beacon Chain to improve security and a bug fix that would address the vulnerability called ‘Rogue Key Attack’ which could jeopardize Fast Finality mechanism of the network. Additionally, there will be no issuance of new BNB tokens and two-thirds of all BNB Chain validators are required to upgrade their nodes for smooth transition during this period.
Cross-Chain Security Improvements
Enhancements have been made to improve cross-chain security such as BEP171; however it is also essential that assets within the network itself are secure particularly after bridge exploitation incidents seen recently.
Conclusion
The upcoming hard fork due 19th July is an important one for Binance’s blockchain network and its users as it brings key enhancements in terms of overall security while having minimal impact on user activity – apart from validator nodes needing an update prior to reaching block height 328 088 888.