BNB Hovers Above $648 as Maxwell Hard Fork Upgrade Set to Double Block Production Speed

BNBtraded in a narrow range on Sunday, reflecting resilience amid low volatility as the BNB Chain community gears up for a significant infrastructure upgrade, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis model.

The Maxwell hard fork upgrade scheduled for June 30 is poised to enhance the performance of the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) mainnet by cutting block times from 1.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds—doubling the chain’s throughput potential.

This upgrade builds on earlier milestones like the Lorentz fork, which reduced block time from 3 seconds and introduced enhanced network stability. Maxwell moves BSC into sub-second block speeds, helping it compete more directly with faster chains such as Solana.

The hard fork will be powered by three protocol improvement proposals: BEP-524, BEP-563 and BEP-564. These measures overhaul key components of validator coordination and consensus mechanics. Notably, validators will now serve longer block proposal turns (16 blocks per turn), and the epoch length is being extended from 500 to 1,000 blocks — changes expected to stabilize performance even under accelerated conditions.

To avoid network congestion and excessive state growth, the per-block gas limit will be halved from 70 million to 35 million. Improvements on the networking side are also expected, with faster block propagation among validators — within 400 milliseconds —and improved range synchronization for lagging nodes.

Named after physicist James Clerk Maxwell, the upgrade is designed to balance speed with stability, aiming to elevate BNB Chain’s standing across DeFi, GameFi, and enterprise blockchain sectors. By delivering more responsive block finality and smoother validator participation, the Maxwell hard fork could help drive future adoption and developer growth across the ecosystem.

Technical Analysis Highlights

• Between June 28 15:00 UTC and June 29 14:00 UTC, BNB climbed from $646.29 to $650.25, a 0.61% gain with a $5.75 (0.89%) trading range.
• The price found key support at $647.11 during the 02:00 UTC hour on June 29, with above-average volume of 10,034 units.
• Resistance emerged at $651.30 during the 12:00 UTC hour, capping further gains.Notable volume spikes at 07:00 and 09:00 UTC (18,696 and 22,494 units, respectively) confirmed persistent buyer interest above $648.
• From 13:05 to 14:04 UTC on June 29, BNB dipped slightly from $650.85 to $650.25, posting a 0.09% intraday loss.
• Price briefly hit a session peak of $651.07 at 13:23 UTC before rejecting lower, with a volume spike of 957.81 units at 13:25 UTC.
• As of 21:24 UTC, BNB traded at $648.37, paring earlier gains and holding below resistance near the $651 level.