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BNB Beacon Chain mainnet is set to undergo the "ZhangHeng" hard fork around July 19, which will bring new upgrades aimed at improving security.

The Binance-operated BNB Beacon Chain mainnet is set to add a new feature in its upcoming hard fork, which will give the blockchain the ability to “halt” the production of new blocks if certain conditions are met.

In a July 12 statement from BNB Chain, the “ZhangHeng” upgrade is expected to take place at block height 328,088,888, which it expects will occur on July 19.

Important information about our latest upgrade ⤵️https://t.co/4sJkTJbGeZ
— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) July 12, 2023

The hard fork will introduce Binance Evolution Proposal BEP-255, which seeks to implement "on-chain asset reconciliation" — which Binance believes could mitigate damage from potential cross-chain bridge exploits such as the Binance Smart Chain exploit on Oct. 7, 2022.

"Although some enhancements have been made to improve cross-chain security, such as BEP171, the security of assets on the BNB Beacon Chain itself should also be guaranteed, especially after the bridge exploitation," according to the Github post concerning BEP-255.

Binance explained that under the BEP, user balance changes will be tracked in each block and will be reconciled to identify any issues.

“When there are reconciliation errors, the blockchain will panic and stop producing new blocks.”

Binance said the action will impact "downstream services such as bridges, deposits, and withdrawals on exchanges" but the "drastic action" is necessary to protect the chain and its users.

Bringing the blockchain back online will require a hard fork and will require addressing the reconciliation error.

"For example, if exploitation exists, related accounts should be blacklisted or corrected. Once the blockchain is resumed, downstream services can be brought back up as well," it explained.

Rogue Key Attacks and other upgrades

Other changes include a bug fix to prevent “Rogue Key Attacks” — a security issue where a perpetrator produces a valid aggregate signature for a transaction as opposed to the true owner of the private keys.

“To fix the bug, all existing vote addresses will be cleared up when the height of hardfork reached,” the firm said, adding that validators will need to add vote addresses again.

The hard fork will also purport to make the chain capable of handling more complex business rules and logic.

Binance said the hard fork needs two-thirds of validators to switch their software version to v0.10.16 beforehand, otherwise, complications may arise.

Full nodes that fail to upgrade will not be able to execute further blocks after the hard fork block height, BNB Chain explained.

BNB Chain outlined a full set of instructions explaining how node operators can comply with the hard fork upgrade, but noted that BNB token holders that use Binance.com, other centralized exchanges or cold wallets, no action is currently required.

As blockchain technology continues to evolve, scalability remains a critical challenge.

But fear not! Enter opBNB, a game-changing Layer 2 scaling solution designed to overcome the limitations of Layer 1 (L1) networks.

Let's discuss opBNB below https://t.co/irYn1OPtfQ
— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) June 19, 2023

On June 19, BNB Chain launched opBNB — a new Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible layer-2 scaling solution based on Optimism’s OP Stack.

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Uniswap proposal to launch on Polygon zkEVM is set to pass

April 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

All 191 UNI token holders voted in favor of the proposal to launch the DEX on Polygon's zkEVM.

Decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap is seemingly set to launch on the new zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) roll-up solution from scaling solution provider Polygon.

While Uniswap (UNI) token holders have until April 14 at 9:05 pm UTC to vote on the proposal to launch Uniswap v3 on the zkEVM, the 40 million vote threshold needed for the proposal to pass it has already been reached — with over 42.4 million votes recorded in favor of the integration.

All 191 Ethereum addresses voted in favor of the proposal with financial modeling platform Gauntlet and Ethereum infrastructure provider ConsenSys leading the voting tally with over 7 million votes each according to Tally, a voting dashboard for decentralized finance projects:

*Top votes in favor of integrating Uniswap v3 on Polygon zkEVM. Source: Tally*

The author of the proposal, Polygon Business Development Lead Jack Melnick, explained that now is the “right moment” to make Uniswap v3 available on Polygon’s zkEVM because it is “EVM equivalent” — meaning that there is no need to recompile EVM smart contracts:

“There’s significant value in Uniswap being available on an EVM compatible ZK rollup. Deploying early on zkEVM helps solidify Uniswap’s place as the number one DEX and a thought leader.”

The integration will also provide validation and fast finality of off-chain transactions, said Melnick.

In addition, the high level of adoption that Polygon has managed to harness makes integrating on Polygon’s zkEVM a “priority,” he explained.

As for what factors will make this deployment a boom or bust, Melnick pointed to several key on-chain metrics:

“A successful zkEVM deployment will, in an organic and sustained manner, grow Uniswap’s Total Addressable Market across TVL, unique interacting wallet, volumes, and integration with partner dApps.”

“As demand for zk-blockchains and proximity to Ethereum rises, users and builders will increasingly look to zkEVM solutions to build and trade,” he added.

Melnick is confident the integration will pose “minimal risks” at least “relative” to other blockchains because the Polygon zkEVM uses zero-knowledge proofs to inherit Ethereum’s security.

The Polygon Bridge has been “disintermediated” and data will be sourced from “reputable” Oracle providers, Melnick added, which he expects will only strengthen security at the protocol level.

Polygon’s zkEVM had its official mainnet launch on March 27.

In a similar move, Uniswap v3 integrated with the BNB Chain — a smart contract blockchain built by Binance — on March 15.

The governance vote wasn’t as stark though, as only 65% voted in favor of the proposal.

United States venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) — the largest UNI token holder — voted against the BNB proposal with its 15 million UNI tokens.

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zkSync Era denies 921 ETH ‘stuck forever’ in smart contract

April 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

One member of the cryptocurrency subreddit pointed out that “EVM equivalent” compilers like zkSync Era does not necessarily mean it is fully “EVM compatible.”

Matter Labs, the team behind Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution zkSync, has denied that 921 Ether (ETH) worth $1.7 million will be "stuck forever" in one of its new projects.

The statement comes as one zkSync project is currently experiencing issues in transferring the funds that it accumulated during its token sale.

In a response tweet, Matter Labs confirmed that they're working to solve the problem and will soon publish a "detailed update."

Not stuck forever. We are working with the team to help them solve the problem and will publish a detailed update in a bit. Tune in.
— zkSync ∎ (@zksync) April 6, 2023

The issue appears to have been caused by its new zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine solution, "zkSync Era," not being fully Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible.

While the zero-knowledge rollup solution is “EVM-equivalent,” the two systems compile smart contract code ever so slightly differently from one another, which, in some cases may result in errors in the compiling process.

Several members of the “CryptoCurrency” subreddit expressed their frustration on the matter:

“Another example of why a chain shouldnt be rushing its mainnet launch. Always remember this guys, EVM compatible =/= EVM equivalent.”

"I'm all in for seeing Zero Knowledge tech becoming more and more relevant in the crypto space. However, these chains also have to take into consideration the fact that people's funds are at stake,” said another.

The project is believed to be GemstoneIDO (GEMS). On the zkSync explorer page, the last four transactions requests have "failed," while exactly 921 Ether is stored in its smart contract.

GemstoneIDO is believed to be the project impacted on zkSync. However, Matter Labs has not confirmed this. Source: zkSync Explorer

Matter Labs launched zkSync Era on mainnet last week, promising that decentralized exchanges Uniswap and SushiSwap would be live in a matter of days. That hasn't happened yet, however projects including Argent, Celer Network and MetaMask are live on the network now.

Cointelegraph reached out to Matter Labs, who reiterated funds weren't stuck forever and promised an update shortly.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

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EVM-compatible

Rogue Key Attacks and other upgrades

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