BNB Chain has activated the Pasteur hard fork on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) mainnet at 02:30 UTC on Aug. 25, 2026, with the network confirming the upgrade is live and blocks continuing at the existing 450-millisecond interval without major disruption. Pasteur combines BEP-682, BEP-695 and BEP-675 under the BEP-673 plan after Chapel testnet operation since July 21. The changes reject duplicate validators in cross-chain light-block checks, tighten validator key rotation and governance controls so old keys and restricted signers lose authority, and add an optional route for builders to submit pre-executed blocks. BSC keeps its 100-million gas limit. In QANet testing, throughput rose about 88%, from 1,237 to 2,324 transactions per second, with average gas per block up from 46.35 million to 84.15 million; BNB Chain said those controlled figures are not confirmed mainnet performance. Node operators needed client version 1.7.7 and removal of EnableBAL before activation.