Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has released new details about the forthcoming launch of its new custom blockchain, Binance Chain, designed to operate its $3 billion BNB cryptocurrency which today runs on ethereum.
Announced Thursday, the exchange said the migration will take place from April 19 to 22, at which point all BNB balances should be migrated to the new network. Old ethereum-based BNB tokens will be destroyed and new BNB tokens will be created on Binance Chain, the company said.
The initial total supply for BNB tokens will be capped at 200 million, 48 million of which will be frozen and 5 million of which will be destroyed, according to statements from the company.
On April 23, Binance plans to complete the migration to its new blockchain, at which point users will be able to provide a Binance Chain address for BNB withdrawal requests. “The withdrawal would then act as a mechanism to convert ERC-20 BNB tokens into BEP2 [Binance Chain] BNB tokens.”
The exchange said if users want to keep the ERC-20 version of BNB tokens, they would need to withdraw it into an ethereum wallet before April 23. After that, Binance said it won’t support the withdrawal of ERC-20 BNB tokens. “The converted ERC-20 BNB tokens will be publicly burnt by Binance.com,” it said.
Soon after, a dedicated blockchain explorer and web wallet are expected to launch. Binance, however, said that the timeline of the above events is subject to change.
Binance first revealed the development of Binance Chain in March 2018. At the time, the exchange also said that it would essentially shift its BNB token to its own native blockchain.
In a recent live ask-me-anything (AMA) chat on Twitter, however, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao explained:
“Binance Coin on the Binance Chain is the same as the Ethereum coin on the Ethereum network. You will have to use it to pay for network transactions, as gas.”
Binance image via Shutterstock