By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 25th, 2024
Binance will reportedly upgrade its smart-contract network to the Ethereum-popularized ZK rollup in 2023, to improve scalability.
Leading crypto exchange Binance is reportedly on course to adopt the zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup technology to enhance its blockchain’s performance. The Changpeng Zhao-led exchange seeks to deploy the upgrade next year to speed up transaction times for its BNB blockchain. In addition, Binance also looks to cut down on fees on its smart contract-enabling native network.
According to fresh reports, Binance’s 2023 upgrade will allow the BNB blockchain to process between 5,000 to 10,000 transitions per second. This projected transaction rate supremely outpaces the current capabilities of the crypto exchange’s protocol, which is already the biggest smart-contract chain by user base and transaction volume. As it stands, the BNB blockchain has surpassed even the more popular Ethereum network regarding user base and transaction volume.
Things to Note on 2023 Binance ZK Rollup
After providing further insight into its planned ZK rollup upgrade, Binance explains that future transaction results will return to BNB. This is in addition to the already aforementioned reference to improved, cheaper, and swifter processing times. Also, the optics perceived from Binance adapting ZK rollup is a good indicator that the space will advance soonest. This is because until recently, the ZK rollup technology was deemed complicated and impractical to deploy in live environments. Binance decided to embrace ZK rollups after the technology gained traction in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Speaking on the development, Binance solutions architect Arnaud Bauer also touted additional benefits of the protocol upgrade. According to Bauer, the upgrade will offer greater security for decentralized application (dApp) transactions. Furthermore, the Binance solutions architect also stated that the ZK rollup will enhance interoperability between chains, thereby allowing dApps to expand their user bases.
Rollups work by bunching transactions together in bundles. These transactions typically range from non-fungible token (NFT) swaps to token trades. They are then processed on a layer 2, or companion network, which then channels the results summary back to the layer 1 chain. Using Binance as an example, this would be BNB in this case.
Although there are other rollup variations, developers tend to favor ZK rollups over the rest. This is because these particular rollups use elaborate cryptography to render the data handed back to the layer 1 blockchains as tamper-proof.
BNB Chain Rules ‘EVM Smart Contract’ Roost for Q2 2022
In previously-reported news, the BNB Chain was the best-performing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contract network for Q2 2022. According to a Messari report, BNB Chain outperformed other rival smart contract networks in the second quarter of this year. These other outperformed EVMs include Ethereum (ETH), Avalanche (AVAX), Fantom (FTM), as well as Polygon (MATIC). Part of the Messari report read:
“The bear market has not prevented BNB Chain from implementing core architectural solutions and strategies for expanding its ecosystem.”
Furthermore, the BNB Chain also had the lowest market cap decline, as well as a lower revenue decline quarter on quarter.