BNB Chronicle: Enhancing Data Storage on BNB Chain

The BNB Chain community has introduced the BNB Chronicle, a data archive layer designed to address the issue of unbounded state growth on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The BNB Chronicle, built on BNB Greenfield, aims to provide long-term data availability while maintaining trustlessness and decentralization, according to the BNB Chain Blog.

Addressing Full Node Storage Challenges

Running a full node on the BNB Chain has become increasingly resource-intensive due to the growing storage demands. The BNB Smart Chain Annual Storage Report 2024 highlights that the total storage size of a BSC full node has reached 2.45TiB, with block data consuming the majority of the storage. The substantial block size necessitates storing all blocks from the genesis block to the most recent, leading to extensive disk space usage.

To tackle this, BNB Chronicle offers a solution by providing a decentralized and permissionless query interface for historical block data. This approach reduces the storage needs of a node by excluding historical data, aligning with proposals like EIP4444 and BEP283, which aim to optimize storage usage.

Ensuring Long-term Data Availability

BNB Chronicle permanently stores historical block and blob data across the Greenfield network, ensuring the data's immutability and resistance to loss. This storage solution is crucial for the long-term data availability of layer 2 rollups, especially with the introduction of BEP336, which aims to reduce costs for Layer 2 rollups by providing dedicated blob space for rollup data. However, BEP336 will discard blob data older than 18 days, making the BNB Chronicle's role in preserving historical data even more vital.

System Architecture

The BNB Chronicle consists of three main components: the Block/Blob Indexer, the API Server, and Light Peers. The Block/Blob Indexer continuously indexes blocks and blobs from the blockchain and stores them in Greenfield, ensuring no block is missed. The API Server handles requests for historical data, while Light Peers serve as a blockchain client backed by Greenfield storage, capable of operating within the P2P network.

Data integrity is ensured through a post-verification process that validates all uploaded blocks against stored data in Greenfield, detecting any missing data. This architecture optimizes storage usage and guarantees data accessibility.

Comparative Analysis

The BNB Chronicle is compared with similar networks in the Ethereum ecosystem, such as the Portal Network and EthStorage, regarding decentralization, support for historical state queries, and data access latency. While BNB Chronicle excels in supporting block and blob queries, it currently lacks an incentive mechanism, unlike EthStorage.

Future Outlook

Looking ahead, BNB Chronicle aims to introduce an incentive mechanism to enhance decentralization and cover storage costs. This mechanism could involve utilizing BNB Chain's system reward contract to fund storage on the Greenfield network, attracting more data uploaders and maintainers.

Moreover, advancements in blockchain technology, such as the world state storage model in Erigon v3, present opportunities to expand BNB Chronicle's capabilities to include historical state data, transforming it into a comprehensive global archive node.

Overall, BNB Chronicle represents a significant step forward in ensuring the BNB Chain's data availability and security, positioning it as a crucial infrastructure component for the blockchain's future growth and sustainability.