BNB Chain said median transaction fees have fallen to below $0.01 per transfer after the network completed four hard forks in 2025: Pascal, Lorentz, Maxwell, and Fermi. The upgrades were carried out without service interruption and materially changed both execution speed and transaction costs on the chain.
Block time and finality narrowed sharply
Before the upgrade cycle, block time stood at 3 seconds and transaction finality at about 7.5 seconds. After the changes, those figures dropped to 0.45 seconds and 1.1 seconds. Gas processing capacity also rose to 133 million gas per second, while validators lowered the minimum gas price from 1 Gwei to 0.05 Gwei. The result is simple: cheaper transfers and much faster confirmation.
Network activity climbed during the same period. In 2025, daily transactions on BNB Smart Chain reached an all-time high of 31 million. The report linked the increase to the chain’s low-cost model, which drew stronger adoption in emerging markets and supported a jump in peer-to-peer stablecoin transfers.
BEP-95 burn mechanics remained tied to usage
Higher activity also fed into BNB’s deflation design. Under the BEP-95 mechanism introduced in October 2021, about 10% of each gas fee is removed from circulation in real time. More transactions mean more BNB burned.
During the 35th quarterly burn, which covered the first quarter of 2026, more than 1.57 million BNB were taken out of circulation, with total value exceeding $1 billion. That links network usage directly to token supply reduction rather than treating the two as separate metrics.
Tokenized stocks, ETFs, and stablecoins expanded on-chain
Ecosystem growth extended beyond the base layer. In October 2025, Ondo Global Markets launched more than 260 tokenized stocks and ETFs on BNB Chain, including SPY, NVDA, and TSLA. By March 2026, the chain had added more than 60 additional tokenized stocks and ETFs. After that expansion, Ondo’s total value locked across all networks moved past $1 billion. Commodity access also widened through gold-backed tokens such as PAXG and XAUT.
Stablecoins were another major growth area. USDT remained the dominant supply asset, while USD1 rose to second place. In December 2025, United Stables launched the BSC-native stablecoin $U, backed by USDT, USDC, and USD1. Within weeks, its on-chain supply climbed to $1 billion.
DeFi apps kept user activity elevated
DeFi applications accounted for much of the chain’s ongoing activity. After adopting a multi-chain strategy, Uniswap led trading volume on BNB Smart Chain. Venus provided more than $1.6 billion in lending liquidity, ListaDAO expanded in liquid staking, and platforms including PancakeSwap, GMGN.AI, and Four.meme continued to post high standalone user activity.