- BNB Chain has successfully tested a significant upgrade called the Maxwell Hard Fork, which is designed to make the network much faster by reducing the time it takes to create new blocks.
- This upgrade aims to boost transaction speeds and synchronisation without negatively affecting the network’s overall health or decentralisation.
BNB Chain has reached an important milestone by successfully deploying its upcoming upgrade, known as the Maxwell Hard Fork, on its test network. This step is a big move towards making the blockchain much faster and more responsive for users and applications. “Maxwell HardFork Successfully Activated on BNB Chain Testnet. Developers and validators are encouraged to begin testing the new infrastructure,” BNB Chain shared in a post.
What the Maxwell Upgrade Does
The Maxwell Hard Fork is planned to be fully activated on the main BNB Chain network on June 30, 2025. The main goal of this upgrade is to cut down the block time. Maxwell cuts this time in half, from 1.5 seconds to just 0.75 seconds.
Achieving faster block times is a key factor in making a blockchain more scalable and better able to handle large volumes of users and applications. This upgrade involves fundamental changes to how the network confirms transactions and communicates between different parts of the system.
BNB Chain explained that the Maxwell upgrade is named after the famous physicist James Clerk Maxwell, comparing the upgrade’s goal of balancing speed and stability to Maxwell’s work unifying electricity and magnetism.
The aim is to increase speed while ensuring the network of validators (the entities that confirm transactions) stays synchronized and the network remains stable and decentralized.
To manage the faster block times, the upgrade includes several technical adjustments. For example, the length of an epoch(a period where validators take turns creating blocks) is extended. Also, the maximum amount of work allowed in each block, also known as the gas limit, is reduced. These changes help keep the network running smoothly even with faster blocks.
Improvements have also been made to how quickly new blocks are shared among validators, aiming for propagation within 400 milliseconds. Better syncing capabilities are also included to help different parts of the network stay updated.
For people using the BNB Chain, these changes mean a much faster experience. With blocks created in under a second and transactions becoming final in about 1.9 seconds, using decentralised applications (dApps) like trading or playing games will feel much quicker, closer to the speed of traditional websites and apps. This improved speed can help bridge the gap between traditional online experiences and the world of Web3.
The upgrade also opens up new possibilities for developers. Applications that require very fast updates, like real-time games or trading platforms, can now potentially run directly on the main BNB Chain layer without needing separate, faster side chains.
Even before this upgrade, BNB Chain has shown strong performance in certain areas. Data indicates it leads in the volume of trading on decentralised exchanges (DEXs) and handles significantly more transactions per second than Ethereum. While it’s still different from other chains like Solana and Ethereum on specific metrics like block time and finality, Maxwell is a clear step towards improving its competitive position.
Many observers in the crypto community are optimistic about the Maxwell upgrade. They note that a previous upgrade, Lorentz, greatly reduced transaction fees. Experts believe Maxwell’s focus on speed and coordination will be even more bullish for the future of BNB Chain, potentially resolving issues like transaction failures experienced during busy times.
As the final activation date approaches, the Maxwell Hard Fork is positioning BNB Chain as a leading high-performance blockchain, aiming to combine fast transaction speeds with compatibility with Ethereum-based applications and a focus on network reliability. BNB is currently trading at $638.58, up 1.26% in the last 24 hours.