BNB Chain unveils agentic trading Layer 1 targeting sub-50-millisecond preconfirmation

BNB Chain is planning a separate Layer 1 blockchain for high-frequency trading, automated payments and AI-driven transactions, positioning it as an addition to its existing stack rather than a replacement for BNB Smart Chain. Under its H2 2026 technical roadmap, the network is expected to launch a testnet by the end of 2026 and a mainnet in early 2027. The chain is designed around performance targets of more than 100,000 transactions per second, transaction confirmation in less than 50 milliseconds and block finality in under one second. BNB Chain said it aims to reach that scale by processing multiple transactions at once and improving how data is stored and verified. A key part of the design is TxStream, which removes the public mempool and sends transactions directly to block leaders to reduce latency and curb front-running opportunities. BNB Chain said upgrades to BNB Smart Chain in the first half of 2026 shortened block intervals to 450 milliseconds from 750 milliseconds and lifted benchmark throughput to 5,200 transactions per second from roughly 2,800, with the next phase focused on handling more throughput and easing congestion between applications. Beyond performance, BNB Chain said it is researching quantum-resistant security through account abstraction so users could adopt stronger protections without changing wallet addresses. The plans come as crypto and technology companies push infrastructure for AI agents that can execute payments and transactions with limited human input.