BNB Chain successfully activated the Maxwell hard fork on the testnet on May 26, 2025. This hard fork is part of the upgrade roadmap for BNB Smart Chain (BSC), aimed at improving the performance and scalability of the network. Maxwell brings three main improvements:
BEP-524: Reduces the time between blocks to 0.75 seconds, helping to speed up transaction confirmation and improve user experience.
BEP-563: Optimizes the communication protocol between validators, minimizing latency and increasing network stability.
BEP-564: Introduces a new block synchronization mechanism, allowing multiple blocks to be loaded in a single call, improving synchronization speed between nodes.
According to the official announcement from BNB Chain, Maxwell has been successfully activated at block number 5,255,2978 on the testnet. To ensure compatibility and performance of the network, the nodes on the testnet have been upgraded to version v1.5.13 before the hard fork activation. This hard fork is expected to be deployed on the mainnet on June 30, 2025, after meeting testing criteria such as stability of block production, no increase in block reorganization rate, and synchronization capability of the validators
