BNB Chain has published technical documentation for an unnamed new layer-1 blockchain engineered for high-frequency trading, payments, and automated AI agent transactions. The network, currently called "New L1" in developer documents updated October 22, will run alongside the existing BNB Smart Chain rather than replace it.
Shared Token, Separate Chains
The new blockchain will not introduce its own cryptocurrency. Instead, BNB will serve as the native asset across both networks, used for transaction fees, staking, and governance decisions. "BNB is the native asset of New L1. No new token will be issued," the documentation states. A native bridge is in development to let assets and data move between BNB Smart Chain and the new network, which developers say will preserve compatibility with the existing application ecosystem while giving latency-sensitive use cases a dedicated environment.
The chain will remain compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, meaning existing Solidity smart contracts should run without modification. Developers cautioned, however, that some supporting infrastructure tools will need adjustments to work with the new architecture.
Speed Comes With a Caveat
According to the published specifications, New L1 targets a 200-millisecond block interval, with preliminary transaction confirmation arriving in roughly 20 milliseconds. Full finalization of transaction order is expected to take under one second. Developers achieve this partly by decoupling transaction ordering from execution, allowing the consensus layer to agree on upcoming blocks without waiting for prior transactions to finish processing.
That early confirmation, however, is provisional and can be reversed before finalization completes. The documentation specifically warns that any irreversible action - such as releasing funds or settling a trade - should wait for full finalization rather than relying on the faster preliminary signal.
Built-In Tools and Bandwidth Reservations
The network design includes several features aimed at simplifying development and improving reliability under load:
- Native account abstraction, which can simplify wallet management and transaction logic
- Support for third parties covering transaction fees on behalf of users
- Batch calls that bundle multiple operations into a single transaction
- Passkey support for authentication without traditional private-key handling
- A "Multi-Lane" mechanism that reserves network bandwidth for specific categories of latency-sensitive transactions
Timeline and Performance Targets
New L1 is currently running on an internal development network with a limited set of validators. Per a roadmap BNB Chain published July 8, a public testnet is expected by the end of 2026, with mainnet launch targeted for early 2027. The roadmap also sets a longer-term goal of exceeding 100,000 transactions per second through consensus optimization, parallel execution, and a redesigned data storage system - figures that remain aspirational targets rather than confirmed benchmarks at this stage.
Separately, BNB Chain developers reported in May on early tests of post-quantum cryptography for the network. That experiment indicated the blockchain could theoretically be adapted to resist quantum-computing attacks, but testing also revealed a notable drop in performance under the post-quantum configuration, underscoring the trade-offs the team will need to resolve before any production deployment.