Shardeum Mainnet Goes Live, Debuting Autoscaling L1 after Record Testnet Validator Participation
New York, United States, May 5th, 2025, Chainwire
The EVM-Compatible Blockchain continues on its mission to facilitate an affordable blockchain ecosystem with fees as low as $0.01.
Shardeum, the autoscaling Layer 1, today announces the launch of its long-anticipated Mainnet on May 5th, 2025. It follows a highly successful testnet phase that attracted over 1.4 million global participants, and over 171,000 physically run validator nodes – the highest among Layer 1 testnets.
The Mainnet launch marks the transition from an extended period of research and development to the deployment of a live Layer 1 network. This milestone is a major step forward in the network’s mission to solve the blockchain trilemma, enabling global users and developers to experience decentralization, scalability, and affordability without trade-offs.
“We’ve built Shardeum with the conviction that the future of Web3 must be open, inclusive, and truly scalable,” said Srini Parthasarathy, Chief Technology Officer. “Mainnet is not just a technical milestone; it demonstrates that the blockchain trilemma – once seen as a tradeoff – is genuinely solvable. Our community’s unprecedented validator participation is clear proof of our commitment. And we achieved this by ensuring that running a node is accessible and straightforward for anyone.”
“Shardeum is proving that scale, security, and true community ownership can co-exist on a single Layer 1,” said Adam Struck, Managing Partner at Struck Crypto. “They are building an autoscaling network, and anyone can help secure it in under a minute. Launching mainnet with a record-size grassroots validator set is exactly the kind of milestone that convinces us Shardeum will be the foundation for the next wave of Web3 applications.”
With Shardeum’s Mainnet launch comes a myriad of features as well as its Token Generation Event (TGE).
Key Features at Launch
Permissionless Validator Network:
- 171,000+ validators on testnet (L1 record)
- Mainnet genesis starts with 256 validators (2 shards)
- Spin up a node in under one minute via a single-command install – no heavy hardware or large stake required, enabling widespread community participation
Autoscaling from Day 1:
- Transaction throughput automatically scales as validator participation grows
- Gas fees remain consistently as low as $0.01, even under network congestion
- Dynamic state sharding and proprietary Proof-of-Quorum Optimistic (PoQo) allowing the network to scale near-infinitely as more nodes join
- Post-launch: Innovative validator accountability system involving automatic rotation of consistently under-performing nodes (avoiding traditional slashing)
Open Source Development:
- Launching with 60+ open-source repositories and over 32,000 stars on GitHub, Shardeum’s codebase is open and transparent
EVM-Compatible & Developer-Ready:
- At launch, Shardeum will support popular explorer tools with seamless integrations with major EVM-supporting wallets, including MetaMask
Backed by Ecosystem Partners
At launch, Shardeum will be supported by partners including PrimeVault (secure treasury operations), Mintair (validator and operator services), and Tokensoft (airdrop and token vesting management).
Shardeum is backed by prominent investors, including Struck Crypto, Amber Group, Big Brain Holdings, Foresight Ventures, Arrington Capital, Jsquare/DFG, Amber Group, Axelar Foundation, The Spartan Group, Ghaf Capital, Jane Street, Alphemy Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, CoinGecko, and others, further reinforcing its industry credibility and market readiness.
The total circulating supply of SHM at launch will be 249 million. Token generation and listings will align closely with the Mainnet rollout.
Next Steps Following Mainnet Deployment
In the latter half of the year, Shardeum expects that developers will be able to begin testing smart-contract functionality, with stable dApp deployments expected soon after.
Global community events and meetups are planned to celebrate this launch, showcasing Shardeum’s vibrant decentralized community. Shardeum’s transparent and phased roadmap clearly communicates future network upgrades, including comprehensive smart-contract capabilities, ensuring the blockchain evolves transparently with community feedback at its core.
With Mainnet live, Shardeum moves from vision to reality, empowering developers, validators, and users to finally participate in a live, permissionless, user-friendly blockchain environment.
To learn more about Shardeum and its roadmap, users can visit https://shardeum.org/.
About Shardeum
Shardeum is an autoscaling EVM-based layer-1 blockchain. Dynamic state sharding helps keep gas fees low and TPS high as participation grows. Shardeum performs consensus at the transaction level and lowers the computational power needed for validator nodes. This consensus mechanism makes it possible for anyone to run a node while increasing decentralization.
