BNB CHAIN SET FOR MAJOR UPGRADE TOMORROW

@BNBCHAIN is set to activate the Osaka/Mendel hard fork on April 28, 2026 at 02:30 UTC, introducing nine BEPs aimed at tightening execution efficiency on BSC mainnet. The upgrade covers improvements to gas behaviour, execution consistency, and transaction finality.

What the Upgrade Changes

Osaka/Mendel is not chasing faster block times — the Fermi hard fork already handled that, pushing block production down to 0.45 seconds. This upgrade focuses on what happens when the network is already running that fast: small execution inefficiencies compound quickly at sub-second block intervals.

The headline technical change is BEP-652, which introduces a protocol-level gas cap per transaction, set at 16,777,216 gas. All nodes will uniformly reject transactions above the limit — a more consistent approach than the earlier soft cap model that individual operators could handle differently.

The broader upgrade includes nine BEPs in total. BNB Chain also adopted seven of the 13 Ethereum proposals from the Fusaka scope, including six requiring a hard fork and one client-side RPC change. The remaining six were not adopted due to architecture differences. Two BNB Chain-specific updates were added through BEP-657 and BEP-648.

Another addition is improved support for secp256r1, a cryptographic standard widely used in traditional hardware security systems. The change makes it easier to integrate BNB Chain with enterprise-grade hardware modules and authentication systems outside the crypto-native space, lowering the barrier for institutional deployments.

Node Operators Must Act Before the Deadline

The upgrade was first activated on the BSC testnet on March 24 at block 88,379,325, where it improved block construction, transaction handling at scale, network stability, and execution accuracy before the mainnet rollout.

Node operators who have not yet upgraded to BSC v1.7.2 risk losing sync with the mainnet at the time of activation. Unlike optional patches, this is a coordinated, network-wide hard fork that requires full participation to preserve consensus and network compatibility. The upgrade procedure requires a binary replacement and the removal of any outdated JournalFileEnabled configuration fields.

Sources:
BNB Chain Osaka/Mendel Hard Fork Set for April 28 With 9 Protocol Changes – Blockchain.News
BNB Chain Warns of Mandatory Update Before April 28 Fork – Crypto.News
BSC v1.7.2 Official Release Notes – GitHub

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What is the BNB Chain Fermi Hard Fork? – BSCN
What's Next for BNB Chain? Exploring the 2025–2026 Roadmap – BSCN