The BNB Beacon Chain was originally designed as a staking and governance layer to complement the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) by enhancing security and supporting decentralized exchanges (DEX). However, with the development of BSC and changes in the blockchain landscape, including the retirement of order book-based DEX in BEP151, the BNB Beacon Chain has become increasingly redundant. It is connected to the BSC via a cross-chain bridge, which brings development complexity and security vulnerabilities.
Therefore, BNB Chain Fusion is a strategic shift to migrate the functions of BNB Beacon Chain to BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and replace BNB Beacon Chain. This move aims to simplify the network, improve efficiency, reduce security risks, and align the architecture of BNB Chain with current technological needs and future growth.
Why should validators be excited about migrating to BSC?
The transition from the BNB Beacon Chain to BSC brings several benefits that validators should expect:
Simplifying the BNB chain development process
Migrating to BSC will streamline the development process by consolidating work onto a single chain. This focused approach will result in faster updates, more powerful features, and a more cohesive development environment.
Optimize chain architecture and security model
By retiring the BNB beacon chain and integrating its functionality into the BSC, the overall architecture of the BNB chain will be simplified. This simplification strengthens the security model, reduces vulnerabilities and makes the network more resilient to attacks.
Implementing "Proposer Builder Separation"
The current fragmentation of Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) solutions between providers and validators leads to inefficiencies and potential centralization. This highlights the need for a standardized, open market to streamline processes and enhance decentralization on the BNB chain. Implementing PBS (Proposer Builder Separation) on BSC will establish a transparent and fair block space market.
Optimizing the BNB chain staking ecosystem
The transition to BSC will also optimize the staking ecosystem, combining advanced financial tools such as LSDFi with native staking. After rigorous testing by the core development team, BNB Chain has successfully integrated LSDFi functionality. This integration provides more flexible and efficient staking options for validators and delegators, potentially increasing rewards and enhancing overall network participation.
timeline
Prerequisite steps
BE2/BEP8 asset holders should transfer their assets to BSC.
Phase 1 - April 2024: Asset issuance on the BNB beacon chain stops, validator management and network governance are transferred to BSC. Atomic swaps are disabled from April 15, 2024.
Phase 2 - May 2024: Deactivate governance and delegation on the beacon chain, un-delegate all assets and return them to user wallets.
Phase 3 - May 2024: Cross-chain communication between Beacon Chain and BSC is disconnected. Archiving of BNB Beacon Chain and Beacon Chain data is stopped.
Phase 4 - June 2024: Build a token migration tool to help users recover funds trapped on the beacon chain.
For more details on the timeline and process, please refer to the BNB Chain Fusion Roadmap.
For Validators
The introduction of native staking on the BNB Smart Chain marks a significant milestone, enabling validators to be created and managed directly on-chain. After the Feynman hard fork, validators originally established on the BNB Beacon Chain will need to migrate to the BNB Smart Chain to continue operating.
To migrate your authenticator, you can perform the following steps:
Creating a new validator
The Stake Dapp provides a user-friendly interface for creating new validators on the BNB Smart Chain. Please follow the detailed instructions in the Validator Creation Guide to set up a new validator. Populating the "Identity" fields as specified in the guide is critical to ensuring a successful migration.
Migrating Stake to New Validators
Once your new validator is active, notify your delegators about the migration. They will need to migrate their stake to your new validator to continue supporting you. For comprehensive details on staking migration, please see the Staking Migration Guide.
For BNB Delegators
The BNB Chain community has launched BEP333: BNB Chain Convergence, a major update that decouples the BNB Beacon Chain from the ecosystem. Following the Feynman Hard Fork, this shift introduces native staking on the BNB Smart Chain. Stakeholders now have the opportunity to migrate their existing delegations to the new native staking system through two main methods:
Cross-chain re-delegation through the BC Delegation Portal
Cancel delegation, cross-chain transfer, New delegation
For delegations created in the BEP153 format, please refer to this document for the migration process.
Please see here for a complete step-by-step guide.
Why migrate delegation now?
It’s easy, it only takes a few minutes to complete your BNB delegation migration
Enjoy a high staking APY of about 40 times: If the delegators do not migrate, the validators they delegate may not be selected as active validators, thus affecting APY. Currently, the reward ratio for new validators is higher than that for validators on the BC chain.
The delegates who migrated the delegation can now participate in the Airdrop Alliance rewards
For BEP2 Token Issuers
Token binding is introduced to ensure that a token can circulate in BC and BSC and determine the total supply.
If tokens are bound, they can be transferred between BC and BSC for different use cases. After the final sunset hard fork, the cross-chain between BC and BSC will be closed. But users can still use the token recovery tool to recover bound assets on BSC.
If tokens are not bonded, assets will not be recoverable after the final sunset hard fork. Token owners or issuers should take action to bond their valuable tokens.
Please check the tutorial to confirm whether the asset supports cross-chain transfers to verify whether the token allows cross-chain transfers. If the answer is yes, you do not need to do anything. Otherwise, it is recommended that you follow the token binding tool here to deploy BEP20 tokens on BSC and enable cross-chain functions. It is recommended that the token issuer promptly notify asset holders through multiple channels to migrate as soon as possible.
For BEP2 token holders
As part of the BEP333 update, the BNB Beacon Chain is about to be retired. All assets must be migrated to the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) before the last sunset in June. Delays may result in irreversible asset loss. Please continue reading for detailed migration steps.
The most valuable BEP2/BEP8 tokens (such as BNB and BTC) can be flexibly moved between the beacon chain and the BSC network without restrictions. Users are strongly encouraged to transfer their assets to the BSC network to ensure a smooth, lossless transition, maintaining a 1:1 asset ratio. For a complete guide, see this tutorial. While there are other methods of asset transfer, such as centralized exchanges or decentralized cross-chain platforms such as Binance.com and Thorswap, these alternatives are not covered in this tutorial.
For more details on the timeline and process, please refer to BNB Chain Fusion Roadmap .
