BNB Chain to Tackle Blockchain Exploit Risks in Major July Hard Fork

BNB Chain is expected to undergo its “ZhangHeng” upgrade later this month in a move that’s said to massively improve security features for users, developers said Wednesday.

Network security remains a perennial cause of concern in the crypto markets.

The hard fork is forecasted to occur on 19th July 2023. at 6:00 UTC. A hard fork refers to a permanent change in the way a network operates by way of a software upgrade. No new BNB tokens will be issued for this upgrade, and two-thirds of all BNB Chain validators will need to upgrade their nodes to process blocks following the upgrade.

Validators are entities that utilize computing power to process transactions and maintain network security via nodes, or blockchain software.

Developers said in the BEP-255 proposal that user balance changes will be tracked in each block and will be reconciled to identify issues. In case of a reconciliation error, the blockchain will “panic” and stop producing new blocks.

“If a reconciliation error occurs, the blockchain will stop producing new blocks, impacting downstream services such as bridges, deposits, and withdrawals on exchanges,” developers wrote on GitHub. “This drastic action is necessary to protect the chain and its users, so core developers and community members should investigate the issue as soon as possible.”

Such methods could help users’ token holding at times of exploits, such as those occurring during bridge attacks.

Bridges are blockchain-based tools that allow users to transfer tokens between different networks. These are a key, yet highly vulnerable, part of the crypto ecosystem with $2.66 billion being lost to bridge-based exploits in the past years, according to DefiLlama.