Shardeum has officially launched its highly anticipated mainnet, following a historic testnet phase that attracted more than 1.4 million participants globally and set a new record for validator nodes on a Layer 1 network.
The launch, which was initially scheduled for April 15 but delayed to May due to market conditions, marks a significant milestone for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Layer 1 blockchain. According to an official press release shared with crypto.news, Shardeum’s testnet phase saw an unprecedented 171,000+ publicly run validator nodes, the highest ever recorded for any Layer 1 blockchain testnet.
At its core, Shardeum aims to address the long-standing blockchain scalability trilemma balancing decentralization, scalability, and affordability without compromising on any front. Its autoscaling network architecture utilizes dynamic sharding to divide and process workloads in parallel, which improves transaction throughput and minimizes latency.
Upon genesis, the mainnet launched with 256 validators operating across two shards. The network introduces an ultra-lightweight onboarding process that allows new validators to set up nodes in under a minute using a simple command, with no need for high-end hardware or large capital stakes. Thanks to this design, Shardeum also promises minimal gas fees, with costs remaining as low as $0.01, even during peak demand.
The mainnet debut is supported by several strategic partners including PrimeVault (for treasury operations), Mintair (validator and operator services), and Tokensoft (handling airdrops and token vesting). Alongside the launch, Shardeum has rolled out over 60 open-source repositories and implemented a novel validator accountability system that automatically rotates out underperforming nodes.
Shardeum’s native token, SHM, has been released simultaneously with the mainnet. With an initial circulating supply of 249 million, the token will power key network functions such as staking, gas payments, and governance. According to the project’s tokenomics, 36.72% of SHM is allocated for community token sales and 30.6% for the team both subject to a three-month cliff and two-year linear vesting. Additionally, 22.44% will go to the foundation and 10.23% to ecosystem and airdrop distributions.
SHM is set to list on multiple major exchanges, including BitMart, CoinW, and MEXC. The mainnet will also integrate with popular EVM-compatible wallets such as MetaMask, OKX Wallet, and Trust Wallet.
Srini Parthasarathy, Chief Technology Officer of Shardeum, emphasized the importance of the launch:
“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. It’s not just a technical achievement it’s proof that the scalability trilemma can be solved.”
Looking ahead, the team expects developers to begin testing smart contracts in the second half of 2025, with stable dApp deployments to follow soon after.
With a robust infrastructure, a vibrant community of validators, and broad ecosystem support, Shardeum is positioning itself as a next-gen Layer 1 solution primed to support the future of decentralized applications and Web3 scalability.
