After rigorous testing that spanned 1.5 months and the partial mainnet launch in the middle of August, BNB Chain developers finally released opBNB to the public.
Binance’s opBNB is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible layer 2 solution and was developed using Optimism’s OP Stack and will make full use of the latter’s optimistic rollup technology. It was created to enhance the scalability of the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Optimism seems to have been the best choice with the latter being known for cost-effectiveness.
The tests held last June revealed that the network recorded over 7 million on-chain transactions with transaction times averaging just around one second. The network achieved a peak of 4,000 transactions per second; the next step is the maintenance of this 4,000 TPS.
Apart from this, opBNB's Testnet revealed its capacity to support an array of tokens, encompassing not only Binance's proprietary BNB but also widely recognized stablecoins like BUSD, USDT, and DAI. Lastly, the use of Optimism’s technology could potentially solve BNB Chain’s own security woes, as the chain has endured several expensive exploits in the past.
As the top cryptocurrency exchange in the world (by volume), Binance has been eyeing expansion not simply physically to other countries, but in the potential services it can offer. opBNB is one such endeavor and BNB Chain is currently initiating grants and builder programs for prospective developers who wish to build on the BSC ecosystem.
Optimism, on the other hand, has been at the forefront of the layer-2 solutions sector with the rolling out of its Bedrock upgrade. This has ushered in a revolution of sorts in the layer 2 sector because of the massive enhancements in transaction throughput but with significantly lesser fees. Optimism is also unique in its goal of creating a “superchain” where it is only one among many interoperable and connected chains. The launch of opBNB to the public is a further step towards more engagement from the crypto community, bridging closer its developers and users.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
