Chains & Infrastructure
BNB Smart Chain: PoSA Finality and a Stablecoin Roster Gap
BNB Smart Chain launched 1 September 2020. It runs proof of staked authority with 45 validators and finalizes in about 1.125 seconds. BNB pays gas, with no inflation. The chain carries about $13.3 billion of stablecoins by one provider's count. No major issuer publishes a verified address list for it, a gap this page documents.
| Fact | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mainnet launch | 1 September 2020, docs-stated | C-24 | |
| Consensus | Proof of staked authority, 45 validators, 21 Cabinet plus 24 Candidates | C-24 | |
| Block time | About 0.45 seconds | C-24 | |
| Fast finality | Two blocks, about 1.125 seconds | C-24 | |
| Native token | BNB, no inflation, fees paid to validators | C-24 | |
| Conditions USDT-route transfer fee | $0.0025, then $0.0013 on a second pull | C-26 | |
| Observed median transfer fee | $0.0062, batch-inclusive | C-26 | |
| Stablecoins on chain (provider) | $13,289,833,023 | C-10 |
What BNB Smart Chain is
BNB Smart Chain, BSC, launched 1 September 2020 [4]. The date is docs-stated, not inferred. The chain sits beside the wider BNB Chain family and carries the EVM workload in it [4].
Its stablecoin role is large and awkward at once. Billions in value circulate. Yet the issuer rosters that other chains enjoy are absent here. This page documents both halves.
How consensus works
BSC runs proof of staked authority, PoSA [4]. The docs describe a system of 45 validators supporting short block times and lower fees [4]. The validator set splits into 21 Cabinet members and 24 Candidates [4]. Staked authority means a bounded, known producer set. That is the design’s trade, stated as a design.
What finality means here
Fast Finality is the chain’s own named mechanism. The docs state it plainly. Finality within two blocks, in most cases [4]. At the current 0.45 second block time, that is about 1.125 seconds [4]. If Fast Finality votes are insufficient, the chain falls back to probabilistic finality [4]. Applications needing guaranteed finality use the finalized block tag in JSON-RPC calls [4].
The block time itself is an engineered number. It fell from 3 seconds through the Lorentz, Maxwell, and Fermi hardforks [4]. The docs record the upgrade chain, and this page carries it as their record.
The native token
BNB pays gas. The docs state there is no inflation of the native token [4]. Block rewards come from transaction fees, paid in BNB to the validator set [4]. That is a fee-recycled model, not an emission model.
Fees, measured
Two metrics, dated 11 September 2026, one caveat up front. The measured token is the chain-dominant stablecoin contract, not an issuer-verified one. The caveat section below covers what that means.
The conditions metric. Node gas-price suggestion times simple-transfer gas. At 0.1 gwei and 34,515 gas, the figure is 0.0000034515 BNB, about $0.0025 [6] [8]. A second pull on another node suggested 0.05 gwei, about $0.0013 [5]. Method note, stated rather than hidden. BSC’s public nodes return an empty base-fee history, so the node suggestion stands in for it. The two suggestions are both recorded. Node suggestions are node-level parameters, not chain constants.
The observed metric. Twenty-four sampled transfers. The median paid was 0.000008516 BNB, about $0.0062 [6] [8]. The sample is batch-inclusive. Sub-half-second blocks pack exchange batch legs, which lifts the median.
The issuer bracket. BNB Chain’s own overview states typical transaction fees around $0.005 or less [4]. Both metrics sit inside that bracket. A receipt-level cross-check refetched eight sampled transactions on a second node. All eight fees were identical [5]. No free gas oracle exists for this chain. The two-node receipt agreement stands as the check, stated as such. The USD conversion leg uses a same-session price from a market data provider [8]. It is a conversion aid, not a chain fact.
The stablecoin economy
One provider’s chains table put all stablecoins on BSC at $13,289,833,023 on 11 September 2026 [7]. Database-reported, that provider’s methodology. Fourth-largest in this library’s eight-chain set.
The roster gap
Other chain pages in this library end with a roster table. This one ends with the reason there is none. Each finding is dated and issuer-attributed. The read date is 11 September 2026.
USDC. Circle’s mainnet address table contains zero mentions of BNB, BSC, or Binance [1]. No row, no address. No discontinuation announcement exists either [1]. The evidence supports never-listed-as-of, not withdrawn. Assets circulating under the USDC name on BSC are not issuer variants.
EURC. The Circle EURC table likewise carries no BNB row [2].
USDt. Tether’s protocols page names BNB Smart Chain in its chain enumeration [3]. The BNB section body publishes a gold token’s address only [3]. No USDt address is published for BNB. On-chain, a dominant contract presents the symbol USDT, decoded identically on two public nodes. This page does not print that address. An on-chain decode is not issuer documentation, and issuer documentation is this site’s bar for rosters.
The gold token. Tether’s gold token is issuer-published for BNB [3]. It is a gold asset, not a dollar stablecoin, and belongs at gold-backed stablecoins.
One blocked issuer. The FDUSD issuer’s surfaces were unreachable at the research date. Parked landers, refused connections, a dead documentation host. No address could be banked. That is a documented blockage, not a finding about the token.
The deliverable is the gap itself. A chain can carry billions in stablecoin value while publishing no issuer-verified roster. The USDT page tracks what Tether publishes per chain. The USDC page tracks Circle’s table, which lists 37 networks and not this one.
Where this page sits
The chains hub holds the other networks. The layer 1 versus layer 2 page separates rollups from self-securing chains like this one. Every figure above carries its date, and every absence carries its own.
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