BNB Chain has activated the Jenner hard fork on the BNB Smart Chain testnet. The upgrade introduces three main technical changes focused on payment reliability, smarter contract timing, and tools for regulated digital assets.

The Jenner hard fork went live on the testnet according to the previously outlined schedule. It follows the earlier Pasteur hard fork and brings new capabilities while leaving full activation of some features dependent on later governance decisions. Mainnet timing remains to be confirmed, with prior indications pointing toward late November.

Payment Lane Reserves Block Space for Eligible Transfers

The central feature is Payment Lane, implemented under BEP-703. It sets aside a default 5 percent of each block’s gas limit exclusively for qualifying payment transactions. Ordinary network activity cannot consume this reserved portion, even when demand is high.

In practice, a block with a 100 million gas limit would hold 5 million gas for eligible payments. If those payments use more than the reserved amount, they may draw from the remaining capacity. Unused reserved gas stays unavailable to general transactions. Governance can later raise the reservation as high as 10 percent.

Only certain transactions currently qualify. Native BNB transfers of a nonzero amount sent to accounts without deployed code are eligible by default. Transactions directed to payment contracts that appear on a governance-managed list also qualify. Contract creation, blob transactions, and transfers to smart contracts or accounts with code do not receive the reserved treatment.

Stablecoin transfers, including those involving USDT or USDC, are not yet eligible. Adding them requires a separate governance vote to place the relevant contracts on the approved list. The initial payment contract list is empty. Eligible payments continue to compete with one another under existing fee rules and receive no guarantee of inclusion in any specific block.

Block builders must respect the allocation rules when assembling blocks. Validators reject any block that violates them. The reservation takes effect in the block immediately after the hard-fork activation block.

Millisecond Timestamps Improve Contract Precision

A second change, delivered through BEP-706, lets smart contracts read block timestamps with millisecond accuracy. Previously, contracts could access time only in whole seconds. The finer resolution gives decentralized applications tighter control over deadlines and time-sensitive logic, such as trading or auction mechanisms.

Developers must opt in to use the new millisecond function. Existing contracts that rely on second-based timestamps continue to operate unchanged. The upgrade does not alter the actual rate of block production; it only improves the precision available to code that chooses to use it.

CAS20 Prepares Compliant Asset Capabilities

The third element is the Compliant Asset Standard, or CAS20, defined under BEP-702. It provides issuers with tools beyond those available in the existing BEP-20 standard, including allowlists, blocklists, the ability to pause transfers, and delegated roles for minting and burning.

Although the hard fork has integrated the necessary protocol logic, CAS20 tokens cannot yet be issued. Full activation requires a separate governance vote and administrative approval. The standard is designed to remain compatible with existing BEP-20 wallets and applications. Protocol-level controls alone do not create legal compliance; they supply technical mechanisms that regulated issuers can employ.

Next Steps on Testnet and Governance

Two of the three features—full Payment Lane eligibility for additional assets and CAS20 issuance—remain inactive until governance acts. Early votes are expected to address which contracts, including stablecoins, gain access to the reserved payment capacity on the testnet.

Node operators have been directed to the official Jenner upgrade documentation and the corresponding client release notes for required software updates. Developers and payment providers can already use the testnet to verify transaction formats, destination rules, and listing requirements.

The Jenner activation arrives after a period of elevated network activity. Third-quarter figures showed more than 1.5 billion transactions processed and a substantial rise in smart-contract deployments. The new mechanisms aim to keep simple payments reliable and to equip the network with finer timing and compliance tooling as usage continues.