Ecosystem
BNB, the story begins here
The genesis of BNB
BNB's first token sale began on 26 June 2017 and concluded on 3 July 2017. It initially existed as an Ethereum ERC-20 token, predating Binance exchange trading.
THE BNB CHRONICLES / VOL. 01
Write time into blocks.
From a token in 2017 to an open ecosystem. Seven chapters and fourteen sourced records trace the important moments in BNB history.
2017
The Birth of a Token
The story begins with an ERC-20 token. It was not yet a chain, but it already had purpose.
Ecosystem
First real utility appears
From a token to a utility
When Binance went live in July 2017, it introduced BNB for use on the exchange. Users could pay trading fees with BNB and receive a discount; the fee-discount model became BNB's initial core utility.
2019
From Token to Its Own Chain
A token gained its own network. New blocks, new addresses, a separate on-chain journey began.
Ecosystem
Binance Chain mainnet launch
A chain of its own
Binance Chain mainnet launched. The team separated the technical network start from public use: public access and the BNB mainnet swap window opened on 23 April UTC.
Ecosystem
BNB mainnet swap completed
The native migration
Binance announced the BNB mainnet swap had been completed and deposits/withdrawals opened. ERC-20 BNB deposited to the exchange would be automatically converted to Binance Chain mainnet BNB per the announcement.
2020
Smart Contracts: Opening a New World
Chains no longer only recorded transfers. Code began to run, developers arrived, and a whole ecosystem found fertile ground to grow.
Ecosystem
BSC mainnet officially launched
The smart contract chapter
Binance Smart Chain mainnet launched as a parallel chain to Binance Chain, introducing smart contracts, EVM compatibility, and cross-chain mechanisms to provide a foundation for DeFi applications.
Ecosystem
Support for early builders launched
Backing the builders
The BSC Accelerator Fund was launched to provide liquidity and support for projects building on BSC, giving developers and early DeFi projects new ecosystem resources beyond the mainnet itself.
2022
Build and Build
The name changed, and the direction became clearer. From Binance to Build and Build, construction became the shared language.
Ecosystem
BNB Chain, a new name
Build. And build again.
Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain were unified under the BNB Chain brand. BNB was positioned as 'Build and Build,' emphasizing openness, multi-chain support, and broader ecosystem development.
2023
Extending outward, rooting downward
Scaling and storage became new chapters. opBNB provided an alternative path outward, and Greenfield gave data its own place.
Ecosystem
opBNB mainnet publicly launches
A new layer, a wider horizon
opBNB mainnet went live publicly. This OP Stack–based, EVM-compatible BNB Chain Layer 2 network targets lower-cost and higher-performance transactions.
Ecosystem
Greenfield, a new soil for data
A home for Web3 data
BNB Greenfield mainnet went live publicly, offering decentralized storage providers to persist data and using on-chain controls to manage permissions, linking data applications with BNB Smart Chain.
2024
After Sunset, Becoming One
The legacy networks were gradually retired as capabilities consolidated onto BSC. A staged fusion prepared the ecosystem for the next phase.
Ecosystem
The first sunset fork begins fusion
The beginning of the sunset
The first Sunset fork took effect on mainnet, disabling multiple Beacon Chain transaction functions and launching a phased process to migrate and retire the beacon chain toward BSC.
Ecosystem
Beacon Chain completes shutdown
One ecosystem, a simpler foundation
After Fusion, BNB Chain shut down Beacon Chain validator nodes. The beacon chain ceased to operate as a live network; subsequent arrangements preserved historical data access and asset recovery procedures.
2025
Faster blocks, farther possibilities
The protocol kept evolving. From account capabilities to block intervals, each upgrade pushed the next possibility a step closer.
Ecosystem
Pascal: the evolution of accounts
Smarter accounts, stronger foundations
Pascal went live on BSC mainnet, delivering five BEPs including EIP-7702, advancing account capabilities, EVM compatibility, and protocol-level data handling.
Ecosystem
Lorentz: toward 1.5-second blocks
The first step toward faster blocks
Lorentz completed on BSC mainnet, shrinking the block interval in the first phase to 1.5 seconds via BEP-520, providing timelier feedback for on-chain applications.
Ecosystem
Maxwell: another step faster
The sub-second chapter
Maxwell launched on BSC mainnet, completing the second phase to a 0.75 second block interval and enhancing validator networking and block retrieval mechanisms.