How is the BNB Chain Different from Ethereum?
Ethereum and the BNB Chain do share some functional similarities. Below the surface though, the networks couldn’t be any more different.
Ethereum started as a not-for-profit, decentralised, open-source project that sought to build upon concepts established by Bitcoin. While Binance (the organisation) started as a for-profit, centralised, private company attempting to create the largest crypto exchange ever. While both organisations share the same drive to innovate, their motivations probably differ.
The BNB Chain and Ethereum also use different consensus mechanisms. Ethereum uses Proof of Stake since The Merge in September 2022. The BNB Chain uses a hybrid Proof of Stake Authority (PoSA) to validate network transactions.
The ethos behind the BNB Chain is different. Through implementing a PoSA consensus model, network creators have actively chosen to sacrifice decentralisation in favour of scalability potential. This is the fundamental difference between the BNB Chain and Ethereum.
Previously, when compared to Ether (ETH) in terms of utility, BNB use cases dwindled as users favoured the Ethereum sphere to gain exposure to a much wider variety of dApps. While Ethereum still leads the way here, Binance’s (BSC) dApp environment has since flourished. So much so that it’s ahead of Solana and Cardano in terms of total value locked across all the projects hosted on the BSC blockchain.
