The future of BNB Chain is looking more secure thanks to the upcoming ‘ZhangHeng’ upgrade. Set to take place later this July, this particular update is all about increasing safety parameters for users of the network. In the world of crypto, security is a continuous source of apprehension and these improvements aim to address those concerns.
The ‘hard fork’, planned to take place on 19th July 2023, 6:00 UTC, represents a significant change to the network’s normal operations due to a software upgrade. Contrary to some expectations, no additional BNB tokens will be created during this upgrade.
Nonetheless, for the upgrade to be effective, over two-thirds of all BNB Chain validators have to upgrade their nodes. Validators are crucial players in the crypto landscape, utilising their computational power to process transactions and bolster network security via nodes, essentially a set of blockchain software applications.
As detailed in the BEP-255 proposal, developers have made clear that any changes to user balances in every block would be closely monitored and checked to identify any potential issues. Taking a rather unique approach, if a reconciliation error arises, the blockchain will effectively “panic”—ceasing to generate new blocks.
Whilst this might sound drastic, it’s a calculated move to shield the chain and its users. As such, there would be an immediate call to action for core developers and community members to investigate and rectify the issue. These strategies could potentially save user’s token holdings in instances of exploits, particularly those during what are known as ‘bridge attacks’.
Bridges, for those less familiar, are blockchain tools letting users transfer tokens between separate networks. With $2.66 billion reportedly lost to bridge-based exploits in previous years (DefiLlama), these tools are simultaneously essential and susceptible parts of the crypto framework.
The BNB Chain upgrade seems like a promising step toward bolstering blockchain security. However, it also underlines the ever-pressing need for evolution and adaptability in the everflux crypto-sphere, where user trust and secure transactions are paramount.
Source: Coindesk
