Key takeaways:
- BNB Chain has announced its zero-proof Layer 2 solution, zkBNB, has been running on a testnet since September 2
- zkBNB is set to facilitate up to 10,000 TPS with the ability to support 100 million addresses
- zkBNB Mainnet launch is slated for the end of the year
zkBNB brings better scalability, faster TXs and finality, and stronger security
On Wednesday, BNB Chain announced a Layer 2 scaling solution that stands to drastically enhance the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) ecosystem. Using zero-knowledge proof technology, zkBNB has been running on a testnet for nearly a week, going online on September 2nd.
The BNB Chain team shared the news on Twitter:
A zero-knowledge proof is a method by which one party, usually called “the prover”, can prove to another party, typically dubbed “the verifier”, that a given statement is true while the prover avoids conveying any additional information apart from the fact that the statement is indeed true.
The method holds great promise for faster blockchain operations, with projects such as Ethereum and Zcash exploring real-life implementations. Now, BNB Chain, a layer 1 network launched by the leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance, claims to have used the technology to leapfrog other Layer 2 solutions in the sector.
“Blockchain scaling has long since been an issue in our industry and with onlookers suggesting tangible Layer 2 solutions would take years- our “zkBNB development is ahead of schedule,” wrote the BNB Chain team in a Twitter thread.
According to an official announcement, zkBNB could drastically improve the performance of the BNB Chain, bringing better scalability, faster transaction times and finality, as well as more robust security. Perhaps the most impressive are the TPS figures enabled by zkBNB – the BNB Chain team explained:
“With performance a key priority for BNB Chain, zkBNB puts up astonishing figures with an ability to support 100M addresses, and handle 5K-10K TPS- unparalleled figures in our Industry.”
In practice, faster TPS and general scalability improvements will allow for the creation of more complex BSC applications, and better support for resource-intensive Web3 and NFT use cases.
Developers will be able to efficiently transfer BNB, and BEP20/BEP721/BEP1155 tokens between BSC and zkBNB out of the box.
The team is aiming to roll out the zkBNB mainnet by the end of the year.
