BNB Chain Opens opBNB Fourier Hard Fork, Cuts Block Times In Half

Reducing block times on opBNB shifts the focus from throughput to user experience, especially for latency-sensitive DeFi applications.

The BNB Chain’s Layer 2 network opBNB completed a hard fork of the Fourier mainnet on January 7th to reduce block times.

The development marks a meaningful step in BNB Chain’s push to scale, improve transaction speed and reinforce its position as the busiest part of the blockchain ecosystem in terms of user activity.

Fourier Hard Fork Halves Block Times on opBNB

Fourier development went live at 03:00 UTC on January 7, according to an announcement from BNB Chain developers posted on X that day. The hard fork reduced opBNB’s block interval from 500 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds, a change confirmed shortly after Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who noted that the network completed the upgrade well.

For developers and users, short block time means faster transaction confirmation and lower latency for decentralized applications built on opBNB. The network is BNB Chain’s Layer 2 scaling solution, built using Optimism’s OP Stack, and is designed to handle high-impact activity while keeping fees low.

Node operators are instructed to upgrade to supported client versions prior to the hard fork, including op-node v0.5.5 and op-geth v0.5.9. The Fourier upgrade follows previous opBNB upgrades such as the Fjord hard fork in September 2024, which fixed Layer 1 calculations, and the Wright upgrade in August 2024 which introduced wireless operation support.

The timing is notable, given that BNB Chain continues to lead other Layer 1 networks in monthly active addresses, with Token Terminal data showing approximately 56 million active users, ahead of NEAR Protocol and Solana.

Market Responsiveness in a Competitive Environment

BNB price showed limited response after the upgrade. At the time of writing, it was trading at around $917, up about 1% in the last 24 hours. The stock rose about 6% last week, for a two-week gain of about 10%. Meanwhile, monthly performance remains modest at around 2%.

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Although the token is still up more than 25% last year, it was recently overtaken by its rival Ripple after XRP jumped from $1.86 to just under $2.30, meanwhile, pushing its market cap past $138 billion compared to BNB’s $126 billion.

Fourier’s development is also in line with a wider industry trend. Ethereum activated the Fusaka hard fork in December 2025, which increases data availability and lowers Layer 2 costs, while Vitalik Buterin recently revealed that live developments such as PeerDAS and ZK-EVM of the first phase have changed the Ethereum scalability model. Against that backdrop, BNB Chain’s focus on execution speed in both Layer 1 and Layer 2 reflects a common effort to remain competitive.