The new mainnet upgrade and the launch of the new feature are expected to take effect on July 19th.
The BNB Beacon Chain, managed by crypto exchange Binance, is on the brink of introducing a ground-breaking feature.
The upcoming hard fork will equip the blockchain with a "pause" mechanism capable of ceasing new block production under specified circumstances.
Did you know?
Want to get smarter & wealthier with crypto?
Subscribe - We publish new crypto explainer videos every week!
5 Best Crypto Portfolio Diversification Strategies (Animated Explanation)
The "ZhangHeng" update is projected to kick in at block height 328,088,888, a landmark BNB Chain anticipates reaching on July 19th, according to the company's July 12th disclosure.
In line with Binance Evolution Proposal BEP-255, the update aims to incorporate "on-chain asset reconciliation," a move Binance asserts could reduce the negative impact of possible cross-chain bridge exploitations.
When talking about the BEP-255 proposal, BNB Chain stated:
Although some enhancements have been made to improve cross-chain security, such as BEP171, the security of assets on the BNB Beacon Chain itself should also be guaranteed, especially after the bridge exploitation.
Under BEP-255, any modifications in user balance from one block to another will be closely monitored and reconciled for anomaly detection.
When there are reconciliation errors, the blockchain will panic and stop producing new blocks.
The significant step, though impactful on "downstream services such as bridges, deposits, and withdrawals," is deemed necessary to protect the chain and its users' interests.
The hard fork also plans to rectify a security flaw known as the "Rogue Key Attacks," where an intruder can generate a legitimate aggregate signature for a transaction instead of the private keys' actual owner.
Binance assured that existing vote addresses would be purged once the hard fork's height is reached. Validators, it said, would have to re-add vote addresses.
The hard fork is expected to render the chain proficient in managing more intricate business regulations and logic. For the hard fork to proceed smoothly, Binance requires two-thirds of validators to upgrade to software version v0.10.16 to avoid potential complications.
The crucial update intends to strengthen the BNB Beacon Chain, enabling it to halt operations when necessary.
At the end of June, BNB Chain introduced a new Layer-2 chain aimed at addressing its "scalability challenges."
