BNB Chain’s Jenner Hardfork Goes Live on BSC Testnet With Dedicated Payment Lane

Today, BNB Chain launched its Jenner hardfork on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) Testnet. This network upgrade introduces three primary enhancements designed to bolster decentralized finance (DeFi), real-world assets (RWA), and payment processing on the network.

The flagship feature is Payment Lane, which sets aside a portion of every block exclusively for transactions like standard BNB wallet transfers, preventing them from being crowded out during periods of heavy network congestion. Additionally, the Jenner upgrade enables smart contracts to read block times down to the millisecond and establishes the groundwork for CAS20, a fresh token standard tailored for tokenized real-world assets and stablecoins.

BNB Chain announced that the mainnet release schedule will be shared at a later date, and noted that two of the three features require subsequent governance approval to activate.

Payment Lane Holds Back 5% of Every Block

Every single block on the Binance Smart Chain operates under a gas limit, which acts as a ceiling on the amount of computational work it can execute. If a sudden surge in activity occurs—such as during a memecoin launch—transactions multiply and compete aggressively for block space. Consequently, a merchant trying to collect a stablecoin payment ends up fighting for the exact same queue space as automated trading bots.

Introduced via BEP-703, Payment Lane defaults to setting aside 5% of each block’s gas specifically for eligible payment transactions. This ensures that general activity cannot consume this reserved allocation, even when payment demand is low. Conversely, payments can still compete for the remaining 95% of block capacity. Network governance maintains the authority to increase this reserved threshold up to a protocol ceiling of 10%.

The main caveat involves qualifying transactions, a detail BNB Chain outlined clearly in its blog regarding Payment Lane. While sending BNB natively from one wallet to another qualifies automatically, stablecoins like USDC and USDT do not yet qualify. They will only become eligible once governance updates an approved list, which currently contains no entries.

Smart Contracts Can Now Read Time in Milliseconds

Every block created on the BSC network includes a timestamp logging its creation time. Prior to the Jenner hardfork, smart contracts were restricted to reading this metric in whole seconds. Under BEP-706, a newly integrated tool cuts this measurement down to the millisecond.

This precision significantly benefits applications where fractional seconds are critical. For example, a trading platform might issue a price quote valid for only a brief window. Operating solely on a seconds-based clock prevents the contract from enforcing windows shorter than a full second, allowing a quote to remain active past its intended expiration.

Developers must actively choose to use the new tool, meaning contracts relying on the traditional seconds-based clock will continue operating without disruption. While this update does not accelerate actual block production speeds, it supplies smart contracts with much sharper time readings.

CAS20 is Built in but Still Switched Off

The third component is BEP-702, known as CAS20 or the Compliant Asset Standard. This token framework serves issuers requiring specific compliance controls absent in standard BEP-20 tokens, providing capabilities such as blocklists, allowlists, transfer-pausing functions, and distinct roles for token minting, burning, and seizure.

Although Jenner delivers the foundational code, minting CAS20 tokens is not yet active. That milestone requires separate activation via a governance-appointed administrator. BNB Chain also emphasized that these technical features do not automatically guarantee legal compliance for a token. CAS20 maintains full compatibility with existing BEP-20 developer tools, ensuring that current applications and wallets should recognize the new tokens.

Testnet block builders are now required to account for the payment reservation when constructing blocks. Upcoming governance votes regarding the approved payment list will determine how rapidly stablecoins gain access to the dedicated lane.

Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It’s free.