BNB Chain is gearing up for a major upgrade with the upcoming Lorentz hard fork, scheduled for April 29 at 5:05 a.m. UTC, as announced on BNB Chain’s official X (formerly Twitter) account. This update will cut block times in half — from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds — resulting in faster transactions, lower latency, and an overall improved user experience.
This hard fork, based on BEP-520, marks a significant change for developers, validators, and node operators. Key changes include:
Reduced block time: 1.5 seconds to speed up confirmations
Increased Epoch length: From 200 to 500
Lower gas limit: From 140 million to 70 million gwei
Updated “Consecutive TurnLength”: Increased from 4 to 8
These changes aim to improve scalability and efficiency without affecting overall throughput. However, tooling and infrastructure may need updates, and node operators are encouraged to upgrade to Mainnet node v1.5.10 ahead of the hard fork.
The OpBNB Lorentz hard fork, which took place on April 21, already reduced block times to 0.5 seconds, indicating the broader network effort toward performance enhancements.
In addition, BNB has been listed on Kraken, a major cryptocurrency exchange, with four new trading pairs: BNB/EUR, BNB/USD, BNB/USDC, and BNB/USDT, increasing its global liquidity and exposure.
