The BNB Greenfield network is about to undergo the Serengeti hardfork, bringing exciting updates and improvements to the platform.

Important information and key actions required:

• The Testnet Serengeti hardfork is scheduled to occur at block height 7,354,695. Based on the current block interval, it is estimated to take place on April 18th at 07:00 AM UTC.
• The Mainnet Serengeti hardfork is scheduled to occur at block height 6,863,285. Based on the current block interval, it is estimated to take place on April 29th at 07:00 AM UTC.

Validators and SPs should complete upgrading to the latest version before hardfork, greenfield v1.6.0 for validators, and greenfield-storage-provider v1.6.0 for SPs.

Please be aware that the upcoming hardfork will not impact your account balance on Greenfield. All buckets and objects stored on the Greenfield will remain accessible. 

What’s New for Greenfield?

To enhance user experience, the developer community is introducing the following features and bug fixes:

• Remove create object & bucket approval (PR #580)
• Allow SP to create/update objects for users (PR #581)

What’s New for Storage Providers (SPs)?

• Simplify off-chain authentication process (PR #1354)
• Support Primary SP as the upload agent (PR #1353)
• Support SP monthly free quota (PR #1351)

For other bug fixes and refactoring, please refer to the changelog in the Greenfield Blockchain and Greenfield SP repository.

User Experience Improvements Ahead

Since its launch on the mainnet in October 2023, Greenfield has attracted various innovative projects to store and develop DataFi on the BNB Chain ecosystem. Based on the feedback received from these new projects, we are striving to enhance the user experience and simplify the development process on Greenfield. 

Developers encounter challenges when integrating with Greenfield, such as increased complexity and resource usage due to client-side processing, complicated object uploading process, stream payment, cross-chain programming, and interactions with SP and Greenfield chain.

We have made targeted optimizations to improve the overall user experience. The key improvements include:

1. BEP-361: Streamline off-chain authentication on Greenfield: Streamlining the off-chain authentication process, enabling users to complete identity verification in Dapps with just one signature, significantly enhancing user experience and reducing integration complexity for developers.
2. BEP-364: Primary Storage Provider acts as the upload agent for object creation on Greenfield: Presenting a new method for creating objects. Users no longer have to calculate checksums or send transactions to the Greenfield blockchain when uploading objects. Simply send the object to the SP.
3. BEP-362: Greenfield Storage Fee Paymaster: Introducing a Storage Fee Paymaster for project owners to cover storage expenses on Greenfield, reducing barriers for regular users to use the platform.
4. BEP-363: Improve Greenfield cross-chain programming capability: Providing enhanced cross-chain programming, allowing trigger Greenfield operations on BSC/opBNB without users switching between BSC/opBNB and Greenfield.

Closing

Greenfield aims to improve user and developer experiences by introducing these BEPs and optimizations. The goal is to streamline app development for Greenfield developers and ensure all users can easily access its decentralized storage services. Let's work together to build a strong Greenfield ecosystem.