BNB Chain Activates Jenner Hardfork on BSC Testnet

BNB Chain has activated the Jenner hardfork on its BNB Smart Chain testnet, deploying a new payment processing mechanism alongside millisecond block timestamps and functionality for the CAS20 asset standard. According to CryptoNews, the upgrade introduces Payment Lane via BEP-703, establishing separate gas accounting rules for eligible payments and general network transactions.

Payment Lane Mechanism

The Payment Lane feature reserves 5% of each block’s gas capacity for qualifying payments, preventing general network traffic from consuming the reserved space during periods of congestion. Eligible transactions include native BNB transfers to accounts without deployed code and transactions sent directly to payment contracts approved through network governance. The protocol allows governance to adjust the reserved allocation up to a maximum of 10%.

Unused reserved capacity cannot be reassigned to general traffic. If eligible payments consume less than the reserved limit, the remaining capacity stays unused even when other transactions are waiting. Contract creation, blob transactions, and type 0x04 transactions remain classified as general traffic under the new rules.

Ecosystem Activity and Rollout

The Jenner upgrade follows the Pasteur hardfork activation in August and arrives after BNB Chain recorded 1.51 billion transactions during the third quarter of 2026, representing a 7.5% increase from the previous quarter. Network revenue climbed 54% to $54.2 million, while smart contract deployments reached 12.3 million during the same period. The hardfork is currently operating on the testnet, with the mainnet rollout previously targeted for late November.

Key facts

• BNB Chain activated the Jenner hardfork on the BNB Smart Chain testnet.
• The upgrade introduces Payment Lane, reserving 5% of block gas capacity for eligible payments.
• Governance can adjust the reserved gas allocation up to a maximum of 10%.
• Eligible transactions include approved payment contracts and native BNB transfers to accounts without deployed code.
• BNB Chain recorded 1.51 billion transactions during the third quarter of 2026.