A quick overview of BNB Chain's expansion chain opBNB, which can support over 4,000 transfer transactions per second

Source: BNB Chain Blog

BNB Smart Chain (BSC) has launched an innovative expansion solution - opBNB. opBNB is our commitment to ensure users, developers and projects have a seamless and productive experience on BSC. This development is part of our mission to continually move forward and lead innovation. The opBNB testnet will be launched on June 19, 2023, and we sincerely invite testnet validators and dApp developers to try the testnet and provide feedback.

What is opBNB?

opBNB is a solution for BSC scalability. As a Layer 2 blockchain compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), opBNB is based on the Optimism OP Stack, further enhancing the scalability of BSC while maintaining affordability and security.

Optimistic Rollups proposes to reduce the computational load on the main chain by executing transactions outside the chain and only publishing the transaction data to the main chain as calldata. This approach greatly improves scalability by bundling multiple transactions together and then committing them to the main chain.

Combining BSC's powerful capabilities with opBNB's unique new features, including simplifying data usage, improving the cache system, and adjusting the submission process algorithm to support simultaneous operations (also known as batch processors), enables opBNB to increase the gas limit to 100 million. That's a huge improvement over Optimism's 300,000 (source: link). With these new features, opBNB can process more than 4000 transfers per second at an average cost per transaction of less than $0.005.

Why is opBNB important?

By leveraging the power of Optimistic Rollups, opBNB moves computation and state storage off-chain, reducing congestion and transaction costs. Transactions are executed off-chain, but their data is published to the mainnet as calldata. This revolutionary approach enables high-throughput environments with low gas costs.

In addition, opBNB employs a fraud proof scheme to ensure the validity of transactions. Anyone can challenge the outcome of a rollup transaction by computing a fraud proof, which, if successful, will re-execute the transaction to preserve the integrity of the network.

Benefits for projects and developers

With opBNB, developers get a powerful and EVM-compatible platform on which to build an open ecosystem. The opBNB team has made important contributions in supporting the Optimism Stack for second-layer solutions. Utilizing this stack simplifies the process for EVM developers to migrate their applications to BSC, helping them reach more users.

Projects can also take advantage of increased throughput and significantly lower transaction costs to provide a better user experience for their customers. Additionally, projects that previously faced high transaction volume burdens on BSC can thrive with the added scalability of opBNB. Here are some benefits of opBNB:

1. Enhanced scalability: As mentioned above, opBNB can support more than 4000 transfer transactions per second. This is thanks to opBNB's innovative features, including optimized data browsing, improved caching systems, and tweaked submission process algorithms to support simultaneous operations (also known as batch processors). This is a significant increase over the capacity of current BSCs, making it ideal for applications with a large number of daily active users. Therefore, developers don’t need to worry about their projects congesting the network, ensuring smooth and uninterrupted operations. Additionally, as the average transfer transaction cost drops below $0.005, it becomes easier for developers to create and run applications, especially those that require high-frequency microtransactions. Lower transaction costs can also attract more users, potentially increasing app adoption and success.

2. EVM Compatibility: Compatibility with EVM means that opBNB provides a usable platform for developers familiar with Ethereum tools and dApps. This compatibility simplifies the migration or expansion of existing Ethereum applications to BSC, providing a wider audience and resources. Developers can take advantage of this to take full advantage of the Ethereum and BNB smart chain ecosystems.

3. Security and Trust: Due to the fraud proof scheme, security remains the cornerstone of opBNB. This ensures that all off-chain transactions are valid, providing an extra layer of trust and confidence for developers and users alike. Additionally, the transparency and verifiability of transactions on opBNB encourages a healthier and safer application environment.

4. Future-proof development: The blockchain space is rapidly evolving and staying adaptable is key to continued growth. With opBNB's powerful and flexible framework, developers can easily adapt to changes, add new features, and experiment with innovative ideas. This makes opBNB not just a solution now, but a strategic choice for the future.

5. Rich ecosystem integration: opBNB is not just a standalone layer 2 solution; it is part of a broader and vibrant BSC ecosystem. This integration provides developers and projects the opportunity to interact with a variety of other projects and tokens, including BNB, USDT and other future ERC20 tokens supported by opBNB.

opBNB has the potential to facilitate the growth of various applications, from gaming dApps to social networks, thanks to the efficient and cost-effective blockchain environment it provides.