BNB Chain eyes near one-second finality with Fermi upgrade

BNB Chain has activated its Fermi hard fork, cutting BNB Smart Chain block times from 0.75 seconds to 0.45 seconds.

The upgrade aims to deliver transaction finality in around one second, positioning the network among the fastest major EVM-compatible chains.

Fermi marks the final phase of BNB Chain’s short block interval roadmap, focusing on performance and reliability improvements.

Validators will now produce blocks nearly twice as fast, reducing confirmation times for onchain transactions.

The goal is faster without compromising reliability.

Nina Rong said, adding that the upgrade strengthens fast-finality rules.

BNB Chain said stricter propagation and voting parameters will help keep validators in sync during periods of congestion.

The network is targeting latency-sensitive use cases such as onchain trading, decentralised finance protocols and blockchain-based gaming.

Most decentralised applications are not expected to require code changes following the upgrade.

BNB Chain said lessons from past congestion events shaped the tighter finality and coordination rules introduced with Fermi.

The blockchain ranked among the busiest networks in 2025, recording about 3.89 billion transactions.

At the time of reporting, BNB price was $946.40.