By Shelly Melancon (Switzerland)
Lately, transactions on the Binance Smart Chain Network have been taking ages to confirm, which is giving rise to concerns from developers and users alike. Ironically, the BSC network was built as a solution to the problems encountered by users on the Ethereum network.
The BSC when it was built was aimed at accommodating a large number of transactions at a faster throughput. Before the creation of the BSC, the demand on the Ethereum network was so high that it led to a spike in transaction fees, such that users were paying as much as $20 for a $100 transaction. Therefore, the BSC network was seen as a respite to users because of the perks it offered that Ethereum Network didn’t. This drove the large number of users and developers to the BSC.
However, during May, users complained about the difficulty in carrying out transactions on the BSC. Validators were trailing behind some blocks for almost an hour. The largest DEX on the chain, Pancakewap.finance was even congested that users encountered a series of hassles while trying to swap their tokens.
Lots of users took their complaints arising from these issues to various platforms belonging to Binance. Series of complaints were observed on Binance Chain’s Github. Users complained on Binance Chain (BC) & Binance Smart Chain (BSC) – Developments Discussion Group about the error messages they got while using the DEX. Strangely enough, they were still being charged for these transactions. One of the complaints noted read,
“Today, I transferred some funds (BUSD) into my Binance chain wallet and waited 3 – 4 hours for it to be confirmed, but I still can’t use them,” they wrote.
Complaints Extend to BSCScan and BSCBridge
Users also complained about issues they experienced on BscScan, a similar block explorer to Etherscan, that it was lagging and displaying a message that read, “Funds are SAFU. SAFU is a play on the word “safe” which became commonplace rather than the correct spelling, when Binance’s CEO, Chanpeng Zhao had mistakenly tweeted “SAFU” during the period when users of the exchange had thought that it had been hacked. The misspelling is similar to the one “hold” which is deliberately spelt as “hodl.”
In the same vein, an error 404 message was noticed on BSC Bridge with which users can make wrapped coins of other blockchains. Binance later tweeted to say the issue had been resolved. The exact cause of this issue is not known as Binance had claimed that the congestion could have been caused by heightened interest in the projects on BSC.
Safemoon, one of the Defi projects built on the network, had attributed the issue to the large number of users interested in the project. PancakeSwap graph indexer, responsible for organizing data on DApps, was trailing behind by a million blocks at a time and the Geth (Go Ethereum) was lagging. The Ethereum network trades cost for speed while the BSC trades speed for cost.
This isn’t the first time Binance is embroiled in this controversy as Ryan Watkins had initially criticised the blockchain structure since Binance had approved some known validators such as Certik, Alan Turing on the BSC, thereby disproving the claim of the BSC being decentralised.
Irrespective of the issues encountered on the BSC, it is one of the recognised networks for building decentralized applications. Currently, the BSC is incorporating a fork from a recent EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) on the Ethereum Network.
At Tokenhell, we help over 5,000 crypto companies amplify their content reach—and you can join them! For inquiries, reach out to us at info@tokenhell.com. Please remember, cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets. Always conduct thorough research before making any investment decisions. Some content on this website, including posts under Crypto Cable, Sponsored Articles, and Press Releases, is provided by guest contributors or paid sponsors. The views expressed in these posts do not necessarily represent the opinions of Tokenhell. We are not responsible for the accuracy, quality, or reliability of any third-party content, advertisements, products, or banners featured on this site. For more details, please review our full terms and conditions / disclaimer.