CoinDesk
BNB Chain is building a new layer-1 blockchain aimed at high-frequency trading and autonomous AI agents, with a public testnet targeted for the end of 2026 and a mainnet launch planned for early 2027. The network will sit alongside the existing BNB Chain ecosystem, which holds roughly $5 billion in total value locked, rather than replace it.
The roadmap targets transaction preconfirmations under 50 milliseconds, throughput above 100,000 transactions per second, and sub-second block finality. The chain removes the public mempool entirely, streaming transactions directly to the block leader in a design BNB Chain says lowers latency and prevents front-running by killing the public queue where pending trades are normally visible.
Why it matters
The bet is that consensus is no longer the bottleneck. BNB Chain's CTO David Z told CoinDesk that smart contracts still need optimization directly at the execution layer, arguing the chains got fast at consensus and storage while the execution engine still works like it is translating sentence by sentence. The new network will lean on execution-layer techniques such as just-in-time compilation and strength reduction to chase speeds closer to those of centralized exchanges.
The push lands as the wider crypto industry builds infrastructure for autonomous AI agents that can trade, make payments, and execute transactions without constant human oversight. Coinbase introduced accounts designed for AI agents last month, while stablecoins are gaining traction as a payment rail for autonomous software.
Market impact
The current BNB Smart Chain has already moved on performance. During the first half of 2026, block times fell to 450 milliseconds from 750, while benchmark throughput rose to about 5,200 transactions per second from roughly 2,800. The roadmap also reserves blockspace for oracles, liquidations, and cross-chain bridges, alongside native privacy, account abstraction, gas sponsorship, and passkey signing. Separately, BNB Chain is researching quantum-resistant security, with the goal of letting users adopt quantum-safe protection without changing wallet addresses, work that remains at the research stage.
Frequently asked questions
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What is BNB Chain's new layer-1 blockchain designed for?
BNB Chain is building a new layer-1 aimed at high-frequency trading and autonomous AI agents, with a public testnet targeted for the end of 2026 and a mainnet launch planned for early 2027. The chain will run alongside the existing BNB Chain ecosystem rather than replace it.
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How fast will the new BNB Chain L1 aim to be?
The roadmap targets transaction preconfirmations under 50 milliseconds, throughput above 100,000 transactions per second, and sub-second block finality. The design also removes the public mempool, streaming transactions directly to the block leader to cut latency and prevent front-running.
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What execution-layer techniques will the new chain use?
The network will rely on execution-layer optimizations such as just-in-time compilation, which compiles code as it runs, and strength reduction, which swaps expensive calculations for simpler ones. BNB Chain CTO David Z argued that consensus and storage are no longer the bottleneck, but the execution engine still…
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Why is BNB Chain targeting AI agents and high-frequency trading?
The push lands as the crypto industry builds infrastructure for autonomous AI agents that can trade, make payments, and execute transactions without constant human oversight. Coinbase introduced accounts designed for AI agents last month, and stablecoins are gaining traction as a payment rail for autonomous software.
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What features beyond speed are on the new chain's roadmap?
The roadmap reserves blockspace for oracles, liquidations, and cross-chain bridges, alongside native privacy, account abstraction, gas sponsorship, transaction batching, scheduled execution, and passkey signing. BNB Chain is also separately researching quantum-resistant security that would let users adopt quantum-safe…
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