What Is BNB’s ‘Zhangheng’ Upgrade?

Adekunle Joshua

Binance's BNB Chain is scheduled to undergo the "ZhangHeng" upgrade this month, addressing persistent concerns about network security in cryptocurrency markets

The upcoming hard fork will introduce a new feature allowing the blockchain to "halt" block production under specific conditions

A hard fork is a permanent divergence from the previous blockchain version, resulting in two incompatible versions

The hard fork is expected to occur on July 19th, 2023, at 6:00 UTC, when the blockchain reaches block height 328,088,888

No new tokens will be created, but about two-thirds of BNB Chain validators must update their systems for the upgrade to function

The "ZhangHeng" upgrade introduces BEP-255, a Binance evolution proposal

BEP-255 establishes a technical standard for creating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and implements a mechanism to track user balance changes within each block of the Binance Smart Chain

On-chain asset reconciliation, a Binance Chain feature, allows users to reconcile their on-chain balances with their off-chain balances on Binance.com

This ensures accurate and up-to-date information about on-chain assets, benefiting users in their trading decisions

The "ZhangHeng" upgrade includes bug fixes, such as preventing rogue key attacks where an attacker falsely claims ownership of private keys by producing a valid aggregate signature