BNB Chain has announced that it is diversifying the clients running on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and opBNB networks by integrating Reth, a Rust-based full node implementation of the Ethereum protocol. According to the BNB Chain Blog, this move aims to enhance the security, efficiency, and decentralization of the network.
Current Customer Environment
Currently, BNB Smart Chain mainly uses Geth and Erigon clients, with Geth accounting for 56.2% of the market share and Erigon accounting for 43.8%. Erigon’s advanced storage model and ability to identify bugs in Geth make it a critical component. However, the opBNB network only supports op-geth clients, so there is a risk if there is a problem with op-geth.
Why Rest?
Reth, developed by Paradigm, provides a safe and high-performance alternative that leverages the programmability of Rust. Integrating Reth is expected to have several benefits.
- Enhanced Security: Reth strengthens the attack resistance of the network.
- Improved efficiency: Reth is designed to be more storage efficient than Geth.
- Improved scalability: Reth easily integrates with Revmc and Execution Extensions for enhanced scalability.
- Greater decentralization: Res focuses on strengthening community governance and decentralization.
Performance Benchmarks
Benchmark tests have shown promising results. For opBNB, Reth has achieved a historical sync rate of 690MGas/s in the last 1 million blocks. For BSC, the sync process starts earlier, taking about 24 days for full nodes and 30 days for custodial nodes, so it is longer. Despite the longer period, the historical sync rate is encouraging, reaching 621MGas/s for full nodes and 516MGas/s for custodial nodes in the last 500,000 blocks.
Stage Sync and Live Sync performance metrics were also recorded, showing significant improvements in initial sync time and storage distribution. However, opBNB’s live sync performance was less optimistic due to database write issues, which the team is actively working on.
Future Development
BNB Chain plans to expand Reth’s usage scenarios, including the validator role of BSC and the sequencer role of opBNB. The team is committed to evolving key features such as Parallel EVM, State Expiry, and Consecutive Blocks, and to meeting the vertical expansion goals of Paradigm Reth.
The BNB Chain community is encouraged to explore Reth, participate in discussions, test and validate its performance, and provide feedback to the development team. This collaborative effort aims to create a more secure, efficient, scalable, and decentralized ecosystem.
For more information, please visit the BNB Chain Blog.
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