The BNB Beacon Chain, initially designed as a staking and governance layer, serves to complement BNB Smart Chain (BSC) by enhancing security and supporting decentralized exchanges (DEXs). 

However, with the evolution of BSC and changes in the blockchain landscape, including the decommissioning of order-book based DEXs in BEP151, the BNB Beacon Chain has become increasingly redundant. Its connection to BSC through a cross-chain bridge has introduced development complexities and security vulnerabilities.

As a result, there's a strategic shift to migrate the Beacon Chain's functionalities to BSC and retire the Beacon Chain. This move aims to streamline the network, improve efficiency, reduce security risks, and align BNB Chain's architecture with the current technological demands and future growth.

Prerequisites 

Commencing four months before First Sunset Hardfork.

1. For staking pools (e.g. Ankr, Binance Earn, Synclub):

• Issue an official announcement outlining the cessation of support for staking on the BNB Beacon Chain.

2. For users using Atomic Swap function:

• Broadcast a clear message to users, through all available channels, about the partial disabling of the atomic swap function. This will include an explanation that:
  • Users can still retrieve their funds.
  • The potential impact on services like cross-chain exchanges (e.g., Thorswap) is that users will no longer be able to perform atomic swaps.

3. For users with BE2/BEP8 assets:

• Transfer their BE2/BEP8 assets to BSC or another platform through BEW or CEX.

4. For CEX and wallet providers:

• Inform CEX and wallet providers about the changes beforehand, so that they can prepare and support users effectively. CEXs and wallets should notify their users about the sunsetting of the BNB Beacon Chain.

5. For asset issuers on BNB Beacon Chain:

• Notify asset issuers about the changes, identify feasible solutions to allow asset issuers to have enough time to transfer their assets to BSC.

Stage 1: Cease asset issuance and move validator management and network governance to BSC

2024 April: BNB Beacon Chain - First sunset fork 

• Disable cryptocurrency issuance and minting features
• Disable BSC validator creation feature

2024 April: BNB Smart Chain - Feynman hardfork

• Activate the validator creation function on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and adjust the voting power of each BNB to 300% as incentive to ensure a smooth transition. 
• Enable and activate the governance module when migrating 15M BNB voting power to BSC.

After the implementation of the Feynman hardfork, it will be necessary to:

• Inform the BSC validator about the migration of voting power from the Beacon Chain to BSC, offering the benefit of double voting power on BSC as an incentive.
• Advise BNB delegators to withdraw their delegation from the Beacon Chain and reallocate it on BSC.

Stage 2: Disable governance and delegation on Beacon Chain

2024 May: Second sunset fork on BNB Beacon Chain

• The governance on Beacon Chain will be disabled
• All delegation on Beacon Chain will be  automatically undelegated, all assets will be returned to the user's wallet
• Users can no longer delegate or redelegate on Beacon Chain

Stage 3: Retire Beacon Chain and generate balance proof

2024 May: The final sunset fork on BNB Beacon Chain

• Disconnect the cross chain communication between Beacon Chain and BSC
• Halt BNB Beacon Chain
• Archive Beacon Chain data
• Generate balance dump and publish it for verification by the community

Stage 4: Token migration app as escape pod

2024 June: Token migration app

• Set up a token migration app* to help users recover funds stuck on the Beacon Chain.

*Limitations apply

Assets that are eligible for migration to BSC must be previously bound with BSC assets. These assets will become available seven days post-submission of the migration request.

References:

Testnet timeline:

• 2024 Feb: First sunset fork on BNB Beacon Chain and Feynman hardfork on BNB Smart Chain
• 2024 March: The second and final Sunset fork on BNB Beacon Chain

Related BEPs:

• BEP-333 BNB Chain Fusion
• BEP-294: BSC Native Staking
• BEP-297: BSC Native Governance
• BEP-299: Token Migration after BC Fusion

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