BNB Chain optimizes BSC as meme coin speculation drives gas fees up 388%

BNB Chain has deployed a major optimization for its BNB Smart Chain (BSC) network in reaction to meme coin speculation, which pushed gas fees up 388% in the last week. 

The upgrade enhances transaction efficiency and reduces congestion through expanded validator capabilities that allow them to process multiple bids per three-second block window. 

BNB Chain upgrades block processing to prioritize high-value transactions

Before the update, BSC validators stopped assessing bids after reaching the block cap. Time-sensitive transactions like meme coin swaps became delayed or failed despite users paying increased gas fees for fast processing. 

Now, validators will be allowed to gather more bids inside the same 3-second window, potentially allowing higher-value transactions to take the place of lower-priority ones. BNB Chain stated that:

This will allow validators to gather more bids, increasing the chance of incorporating the best ones and improving overall block-building performance, especially during periods of high network activity. In other words, we will give transactions interacting with time-sensitive (meme coin) contracts a higher priority.

BNB Chain

BNB Chain sets record gas fees as meme coin surge drives network activity

The network upgrade occurs as BNB Chain experiences its highest-ever gas fees. According to Nansen data, transaction fees on it reached $15 million last week, breaking through Ethereum’s $7 million level yet falling short of Solana’s $29 million.  

BSC gas fees rose 114% throughout the week, ending ahead of all blocks except Solana, alongside Ethereum and Base, which saw their fees decline. As Nansen analyst Aurelie Barthere observed, Binance’s 60-day suspension from legal action with the SEC supposedly drew investors back to BSC.

The rise of meme coins inspired by Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s dog Broccoli has also led to activity on the network, bolstering the decentralized exchange PancakeSwap in turn. 

Over the past week, BNB’s price rose 13% while its market cap surpassed $104 billion to outperform SOL. The BNB Chain’s performance, processing 68.3 million transactions in the last 30 days, also shows the same trend.  

According to Dune data, BNB has more than 6% of the total transactions, second only to Solana. As a result, it has become the largest  Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain in terms of monthly transactions.

At the same time, it is also experiencing a meme coin revival as Four.meme platform is picking up pace. This platform has enabled the creation of more than 12,000 meme tokens in a single day.

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