BNB Chain Activates Pasteur Hard Fork on Mainnet with Bridge Security Overhaul

BNB Chain has successfully activated the Pasteur hard fork on its mainnet. The upgrade, which went live at 02:30 UTC on August 25, introduces three key changes focused on bridge security, validator authorization, and block capacity.

The first change, implemented via BEP-682, strengthens bridge verification by rejecting duplicate validators during cross-chain light-block checks. This prevents a crafted request from including the same validator multiple times, which could have led to an inflated supermajority requirement.

Another change, BEP-695, closes gaps involving validator key rotation, penalties, and governance. It ensures that old validator keys lose their authority after being replaced and prevents validators from escaping pending penalties by rotating their keys.

The third change, BEP-675, introduces an optional route for specialist builders to submit blocks they have already executed, reducing repeated execution and potentially increasing block capacity. This feature can be enabled through the network's remote procedure call interface, giving participants time to integrate it.