BNB Chain's Pascal Hard Fork to Enhance Ethereum Compatibility

BNB Chain is poised to implement the Pascal hard fork, a significant upgrade aimed at enhancing its Ethereum compatibility. Scheduled for February 25, 2025, on the testnet and mid-March 2025 for the mainnet, this upgrade introduces new features that promise to improve the blockchain's functionality and security, according to BNB Chain.

What is the Pascal Hard Fork?

The Pascal hard fork is designed to integrate features from Ethereum's Pectra upgrade, specifically enhancing the BNB Smart Chain's capabilities. Key features include the introduction of native smart contract wallets and improved security measures.

Native Smart Contract Wallets

As outlined in BNB Chain’s 2025 tech roadmap, the implementation of smart contract wallets is a major focus. These wallets, based on Ethereum's EIP-7702, aim to provide users with more flexible account management options. New features include simpler account recovery, multi-signature support for enhanced security, and the ability to set spending limits and batch transactions.

Improved Security and Cryptography

The fork will also integrate BEP-439 (EIP-2537), enhancing cryptographic operations with the BLS12-381 curve. This curve is well-suited for blockchain applications due to its ability to combine multiple digital signatures into one, making transaction verification faster and more efficient. Additionally, its unique mathematical structure reduces computational work, increasing speed and memory efficiency.

Impact on Users and Developers

For Users:

Regular users of BNB Chain need not take any action as the upgrade will occur automatically. Most decentralized applications (Dapps) will continue to operate without interruption. However, users of Dapps sensitive to gas cost fluctuations should pay attention to updates from their respective platforms.

For Developers:

Developers are encouraged to ensure their applications are compatible with the new changes. They should explore the use of smart contract wallets to enhance security and user experience and rigorously test their applications on the updated BSC testnet before the mainnet upgrade.

Future Developments

The Pascal hard fork is a pivotal step in the ongoing development of BNB Chain, paving the way for subsequent upgrades. The Lorentz fork, set for April 2025, will reduce block intervals to 1.5 seconds, followed by the Maxwell fork in June 2025, which will further reduce block intervals to 0.75 seconds. These developments are part of BNB Chain's commitment to improving performance, scalability, and user experience.