BNB Chain Closes Speed Gap with Ethereum as Maxwell Hard Fork Hits Testnet

BNB Chain has successfully deployed its much-anticipated Maxwell Hard Fork on the testnet. This launch delivers a high-speed, low-latency blockchain performance. 

Maxwell’s mainnet activation is scheduled for June 30, 2025. Nevertheless, this deployment positions BNB Chain to rival Solana and Ethereum blockchains on specific metrics. 

BNB Chain’s Maxwell Upgrade: What Users Need to Know

The upgrade, activated at block 5,255,2978, represents a foundational overhaul of BNB Chain’s consensus and networking infrastructure. It significantly reduces block times, enhances validator communication, and improves sync efficiency, which are integral factors for scaling user and developer experiences on-chain.

“Maxwell HardFork Successfully Activated on BNB Chain Testnet…Developers and validators are encouraged to begin testing the new infrastructure,” BNB Chain shared in a post. 

The network named its Maxwell Hard Fork in tribute to James Clerk Maxwell, the physicist who unified electricity and magnetism. Similarly, BNB Chain’s upgrade aims to harmonize two often competing blockchain priorities: speed and stability. 

It cuts block time in half from 1.5 seconds to just 0.75 seconds. New technical enhancements accompany this dramatic acceleration to maintain validator and node synchronization. This would ensure that faster blocks do not come at the cost of network health or decentralization.

Among the key changes introduced are adjustments to consensus cadence and network propagation. The epoch length has been extended from 500 to 1,000 blocks, and validators now lead for 16 blocks per turn. This keeps proposer durations stable even as blocks arrive more frequently. 

Further, the per-block gas limit has been halved from 70 million to 35 million, keeping throughput steady and preventing network congestion and state bloat. 

At the networking layer, new mechanisms allow blocks to propagate among validators within 400 milliseconds. Similarly, improved range sync capabilities help lagging nodes stay up-to-date even under the faster cadence.

Implications for Users and Rival Blockchains

The implications for end-users are profound. With sub-second block times and finality now approaching 1.9 seconds, BNB Chain is moving closer to a Web2-like experience.

Transactions such as swaps, mints, or gameplay actions can instantly be confirmed. This enhanced responsiveness narrows the psychological divide between Web2 and Web3, offering users a fluid and immediate experience.

The upgrade also opens up new design opportunities for developers. Real-time gaming, prediction markets, and high-frequency trading dApps can operate directly on Layer-1 without relying on separate fast chains. 

Meanwhile, the BNB Chain is already showing strong momentum. According to data on DefiLlama, it currently leads the decentralized exchange (DEX) sector with over $13 billion in 24-hour trading volume, nearly six times more than Solana. 

BSC Chain leads DEX chains in trading volume metrics. Source: DefiLlama

Data on Chainspect also shows that transaction throughput per second is up 37%, with BNB Chain handling 12 times more transactions than Ethereum. 

However, on block time and finality metrics, BNB Chain remains 87.5% and 99.21%, respectively, less than Ethereum.

BNB Chain vs Ethereum on TPS, block time, and finality metrics. Source: Chainspect

Industry observers are optimistic. DeFi influencer Elja pointed out that BNB Chain’s previous Lorentz Hard Fork slashed gas fees tenfold. 

With Maxwell promising even faster speeds, better validator coordination, and smarter syncing, Elja called it “even more bullish” for BNB Chain’s future. 

“Lorentz Hardfork resulted in 10x gas fees reduction and increased TPS. The upcoming Maxwell Hardfork will be even more bullish for BNBChain,” Elja remarked. 

One user echoed the sentiment, saying the upgrade should resolve the high failure rates they previously experienced during wallet sales.

As the countdown to mainnet continues, the Maxwell Hard Fork positions BNB Chain at the forefront of high-performance Layer-1 blockchains. It combines lightning-fast execution with compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and infrastructure resilience.

BNB Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto

Despite this news, however, the BNB price has only gone up by a modest 0.05% in the last 24 hours. As of this writing, it was trading for $674.08.