BNB Chain has rolled out a significant optimization for its BNB Smart Chain (BSC) network, responding to a surge in gas fees triggered by meme coin speculation. Over the past week, gas fees skyrocketed by 388%, largely due to the popularity of meme coins, prompting BNB Chain to enhance its transaction efficiency and reduce network congestion.
Enhancing Validator Capabilities for Better Block Processing
The latest upgrade focuses on expanding validator capabilities, enabling them to process multiple bids within the three-second block window. Previously, BSC validators halted bid assessments upon reaching the block cap, leading to delayed or failed transactions—even for users who paid higher gas fees for expedited processing.
With the new optimization, validators can gather more bids in the same time frame, prioritizing high-value transactions and improving overall block-building performance. BNB Chain stated:
“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.”
Record-High Gas Fees and Network Activity on BNB Chain
The upgrade comes at a time when BNB Chain is witnessing record-high gas fees. Data from Nansen reveals that transaction fees soared to $15 million last week, surpassing Ethereum’s $7 million, though still behind Solana’s $29 million. Throughout the week, BSC gas fees increased by 114%, outpacing all networks except Solana.
Interestingly, this surge in network activity coincided with Binance’s 60-day legal reprieve from the SEC, attracting investors back to BSC. Additionally, the rise of meme coins inspired by Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s dog, Broccoli, contributed to this spike, boosting PancakeSwap’s decentralized exchange activity.
BNB Outperforms SOL Amid Meme Coin Revival
Amid the meme coin craze, BNB’s price surged by 13%, with its market cap surpassing $104 billion, outperforming Solana (SOL). In the past 30 days, BNB Chain processed an impressive 68.3 million transactions, establishing itself as the largest Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain by monthly transactions.
According to Dune data, BNB accounts for over 6% of total transactions, second only to Solana. This resurgence is also fueled by the Four.meme platform, which has enabled the creation of more than 12,000 meme tokens in just one day.
