BNB Chain sets March 20 for Pascal Hardfork to boost Ethereum compatibility

BNB Chain has announced March 20 as the date for the Pascal Hardfork on its mainnet. In a post on X, the Binance-backed blockchain network said the much-anticipated upgrade is now ready to go after the successful implementation of the Hardfork on its testnet.

According to the announcement, the Pascal Hardfork will improve BNB Chain’s Ethereum compatibility and developer flexibility. It noted that one of the expected features of the upgrade, the EIP-7702 smart contract wallets, had already been successfully implemented on the BNB Chain testnet through Hardfork.

The announcement reads:

“BNB Chain’s testnet has successfully implemented EIP-7702 through the Pascal hardfork. This makes it one of the earliest chains to adopt this EVM upgrade.”

EIP-7702 is a smart contract wallet feature that temporarily allows Ethereum wallets to have native smart contract capabilities. The feature is part of the upcoming Ethereum Pectra upgrade and will enable wallets to execute batch transactions and spending limits.

Additionally, this feature is expected to improve security as it enables multisig support while allowing gasless transactions via payments. With this feature coming to the Ethereum wallet, stakeholders believe onboarding new users to Web3 would be easier as it would also improve user experience.

Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao described the upgrade as an “important hardfork.”

Meanwhile, announcing the Hardfork date also gives participants within the BNB ecosystem sufficient time to upgrade their technology and software. According to BNB Chain, node operators, exchanges, and validators must update to v1.5.7 on BNB Smart Chain or v0.5.6 on opBNB before the upgrade on March 20, or their node could become out of sync after the upgrade. Developers must also test and update their decentralized applications for new transaction types.

Beyond Pascal, the BNB Chain has two other Hardforks planned for 2025. These are the Lorentz Hardfork in April, which will reduce block intervals to  1.5 seconds, followed by the Maxwell Hardfork in June, which will cut the time to 0.75 seconds.

BNB Chain sees growth due to AI and memecoins

The upcoming upgrade to BNB Chain is coming at the heel of increased activity on the BNB Chain over the past few weeks. The EVM-compatible L1 network has fallen in the pecking order over the last few years behind the likes of Ethereum and Solana.

However, it has seen a resurgence in recent weeks due to memecoins generating significant activity on the network even as Solana sees meme activity decline. While Zhao disclosing his dog is named Brocolli caused the initial memecoin frenzy on BNB Chain, the network has also shown support for the sector by providing liquidity for top memecoins.

Aside from the memecoins, AI-focused projects are also growing rapidly on the network. BNB Chain now hosts over 50 AI projects across various categories, including applications, chatbots, infrastructure, launchpads, data, etc. Binance is also revamping its listing process to introduce community participation with voting to list and delist.

All that activity has translated into increased decentralized trading volume, with BNB Smart Chain having the third-highest DEX volume on Defillama in the last 30 days, behind only Solana and Ethereum.

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