Developers of Binance’s BNB Chain want to merge the dual BNB Beacon Chain (BEP2) and BNB Smart Chain (BEP20) chain structure into a single blockchain.

According to the Janua 8 announcement, users are “strongly recommended” to transfer their BEP2 and BEP8 (mini BEP2 tokens) to the BEP20 chain, which will preserve assets on a 1:1 ratio. The transfer can be done via centralized and decentralized exchanges, or through the BNB Chain Wallet and other self-custody wallets. A tentative deadline for the BNB Chain Fusion has been set for April 2024. 

Users who do not bridge their assets by the deadline can still do so thereafter using a legacy feature. That said, users will need to wait up to seven days to recover their BEP2 assets post-fusion, with the recovery feature having no user interface, only a command line prompt

line In addition, developers warned that BEP2 tokens issued without cross-chain support would not be eligible for recovery post-fusion:

“Failure to establish cross-chain functionality for these tokens before the BNB Beacon Chain is deactivated will lead to their irreversible loss, with no chance of recovery. Actively participating in this process is vital to the protection of your assets.”

Binance issued its native token, BNB, in July 2017. BNB BEP2 is currently used as gas fees to power ecosystem transactions, while BEP20 tokens possess smart contract functionality, similar to ERC-20 tokens.

“With the quick evolution of BSC, the Beacon Chain has become a burden,” developers wrote, noting that the current dual-chain structure slows down development iteration with the need for constant bridging and exposes BNB to security vulnerabilities. 

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