BNB Chain Introduces opBNB

opBNB testnet aims to boost BNB Chain’s transactions to 4,000 per second with fees under $0.005.
Optimism-based opBNB enhances BNB Chain scalability, raising the gas limit to 100 million per block.
Despite opBNB’s promises, some experts criticize BNB Chain’s approach to handling scaling issues.

BNB Chain has unveiled a new layer-2 chain called opBNB to address its ongoing scalability issues. Launched on June 19 as a testnet, opBNB is designed to enhance the security and scalability of the BNB Chain network. This new solution is built on the Optimism OP Stack, a technology that promises to handle more transactions efficiently.

The new opBNB chain is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), making it compatible with Ethereum-based smart contracts, networks, and ERC-20 tokens. This compatibility ensures that developers who are already familiar with the Ethereum ecosystem can seamlessly integrate their projects with opBNB.

Network congestion and high transaction fees have long been challenges for blockchains, particularly during periods of high demand. Currently, BNB Chain manages about 2,000 transactions per second, with transaction costs averaging around $0.10.

As per the announcement, opBNB aims to significantly enhance these metrics, boasting the capability to support over 4,000 transactions per second at a lower average cost of under $0.005. This improvement is achieved through optimizations in data accessibility, a caching layer, and adjustments to the submission process algorithm, which allow for simultaneous operations.

One of the significant advancements of opBNB is its increased gas limit, which has been raised to 100 million per block, up from the 30 million allowed by Optimism. This increase enables the network to handle a larger volume of transactions efficiently.

Binance has stated that opBNB is its solution to the scalability challenge that has hindered the widespread adoption of blockchain technology. Optimism, the underlying technology of opBNB, utilizes Optimistic Rollups to scale transactions. This method processes data off the main chain and assumes its validity until proven otherwise, enhancing transaction efficiency.

Additionally, the RPC (remote procedure call) service layer of opBNB simplifies the integration process for developers. It offers a user-friendly interface that allows developers to focus on building applications without worrying about the complexities of layer-2 scaling.

Despite these advancements, some industry experts remain skeptical. Adam Cochran, a partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, criticized BNB Chain’s approach, arguing that their scaling issues stem from centralizing an Ethereum fork and increasing the gas limit to potentially unsafe levels. He also questioned the decision to launch an Optimism fork, suggesting alternative options like joining Optimism as a superchain or becoming a layer-2 directly on Ethereum.