Developers of Binance’s BNB Smart Chain want to merge the dual BNB Beacon Chain (BEP-2) and BNB Smart Chain (BEP-20) chain structures into a single blockchain.
According to the Jan. 8 announcement, users are “strongly recommended” to transfer their BEP-2 and BEP-8 (mini BEP-2 tokens) to the BEP-20 chain, which will preserve assets on a 1:1 ratio. The transfer can be done via centralized and decentralized exchanges, or through the BNB Chain Wallet and other self-custody wallets. A tentative deadline for the BNB Chain Fusion has been set for April 2024.
Users who do not bridge their assets by the deadline can still do so thereafter using a legacy feature. That said, users will need to wait up to seven days to recover their BEP-2 assets post-fusion, with the recovery feature having no user interface, only a command-line prompt.
In addition, developers warned that BEP-2 tokens issued without cross-chain support would not be eligible for recovery post-fusion:
“Failure to establish cross-chain functionality for these tokens before the BNB Beacon Chain is deactivated will lead to their irreversible loss, with no chance of recovery. Actively participating in this process is vital to the protection of your assets.”
Binance issued its native token, BNB (BNB), in July 2017. BNB BEP-2 is currently used as gas fees to power ecosystem transactions, while BEP-20 tokens possess smart contract functionality, similar to ERC-20 tokens.
“With the quick evolution of BSC, the Beacon Chain has become a burden,” developers wrote, noting that the current dual-chain structure slows down development iteration with the need for constant bridging and exposes BNB to security vulnerabilities.
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