BNB Chain Releases Optimization Plan to Address Surge in Traffic, Prioritizing Meme Transactions

On February 16th, BNB Chain released the first optimization scheme designed to deal with the surge in traffic. The team observed that during peak traffic periods, many transactions were not included in the block in time. This means that even if users increase gas fees (transaction fees) to speed up transactions, they may not get the priority they expect.
Although there are many potential contributing factors, a key issue is that validator nodes do not always prioritize blocks with the highest overall value (i.e., the most profitable blocks based on transaction fees).
The current design of BNB Chain prioritizes getting all transactions on the chain as quickly as possible, thus minimizing the average wait time in mempool. This approach works for most typical use cases. However, it is not the best choice for fast-paced, high-risk Meme Coin transactions, as minor price fluctuations can have a significant impact.
Therefore, the team is refining the strategy to prioritize block values, especially when processing critical transactions. In other words, it will give higher priority to transactions that interact with time-sensitive (Meme) contracts.
This upgrade will introduce a short waiting period before blocks are sealed, as long as there is enough time within the 3-second block window. This will allow validators to collect more bids, increasing the chance of including the best bids and improving overall block build performance, especially during peak network activity periods. This change also provides more time for bid collection, potentially leading to more efficient block builds.