Shardeum

Shardeum is an EVM-based, layer-one platform that utilizes dynamic state sharding to enhance TPS with the inclusion of additional nodes. The smart contract platform uses EVM-based languages, including Solidity and Viper, to compile smart contracts.

Shardeum's objective is to be a chain capable of onboarding people to the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries. Its native token, which is still in development, will be referred to as SHARD (SHM). The use cases of Shardeum include P2P, DApps, DeFi, NFT, Web 3.0, and others. Features of Shardeum include compute and state sharding, smart contracts, energy efficiency, auto scaling, and security.

Shardeum is an EVM-based layer 1 blockchain. Decentralized apps that can operate on the Ethereum Virtual Machine will be able to run on Shardeum. Nodes that join the Shardeum network increase the transactions per second (TPS) and total capacity of the network as the usage grows. Anyone can operate a node.

Hardware requirements to run a validator node involve the offloading of historical data to archive nodes and including more nodes to minimize the load on each validator. After transactions are processed, they are irreversible and final.

The platform refers to itself as a leaderless proof-of-quorum (PoQ) consensus algorithm, proof-of-stake (PoS) with slashing, standby nodes, node rotation, and permissionless participation, which contribute to tightening the security of the network. It processes transactions on a first-come, first-served basis, with a set gas rate for transactions to eliminate miner extractable value.

The Shardeum network will possess a native coin referred to as Shard, with a ticker symbol of SHM. The coin will be mined by validator, archive, and standby nodes as incentive for offering resources to the network. It will be used for paying gas fees that are associated with executing transfer transactions, including smart contract execution on the Shardeum network. The Maximum supply is 508 million SHM.

Distribution is as follows:

• 51% community—reward to nodes; validators, archive, and standby servers
• 18% sale—3-month cliff then 2 years linear vesting
• 15% team—3-month cliff then 2 years linear vesting
• 11% foundation—unlocked at Token Generation Event (TGE)
• 5% ecosystem—unlocked at TGE

A Swiss-based foundation will support Shardeum's development. The law firm supporting the foundation setup was involved with other crypto projects, including Ethereum and Cardano. The long-term objective is to transition Shardeum into a DAO, and when DAOs become recognized as legal entities by more jurisdictions, Shardeum will consider a transition from a foundation to a DAO.

Though Shardeum began in early 2022, Shardus, the protocol level technology utilized in Shardeum, has been in design and development since 2016. Shardus is a framework for making linearly scalable distributed ledgers. Shardeum plans to get a public project license to the Shardus framework by enabling Shardus token holders to claim 1% of the maximum supply. Shardeum will also offer extra staff to Shardus to streamline the development timeline. By utilizing the Shardus framework and including EVM and smart contracting functionality at the application layer, Shardeum will be able to reach the mainnet earlier.

• Q2 2022—Alphanet
• Q3 2022—Betanet
• Q4 2022—Mainnet

Use cases of Shardeum include the following:

• P2P transfers: Shardeum allows users to transfer value across the internet without intermediaries or reversals.
• DeFi: Shardeum offers a platform for scalable DeFi infrastructure for both businesses and individuals.
• EVM dApps: Shardeum is EVM-based. Contracts can be written in Solidity or Vyper and utilize the same Ethereum tooling, like Remix and Truffle.
• NFTs: These assets representing ownership of digitally unique items, with different applications ranging from real estate, digital certificates and IP rights to digital identities on Shardeum will be interoperable and user-friendly.
• Web 3.0: Shardeum aims to streamline the transition to Web 3.0 by offering a platform that allows decentralized UI & UX.

Shardeum raised $18.2 million in its seed funding round in 2022. The seed round was at a $199 million valuation, and the funding initiative attracted about fifty investors.

Some of the VCs backing Shardeum include Jane Street, Spartan Group, Big Brain Holdings, DFG, CoinGecko Ventures, Cogitent Ventures, ZebPay, and WeMade. Shardeum will utilize the funds for marketing, product, and design and to expand research efforts. Shardeum's team also plans to launch hackathons across India, the United States, and other parts of the world. Other efforts will go into rewarding developers to build on the Shardeum blockchain as its ecosystem grows.

Cofounder Nischal Shetty said in a blog post:

“For the round, we chose to have a large number of investors with over 40% of them being angels. With the focus on decentralisation, we wanted to maximise the distribution of SHM and not to have a select few investors that own a majority of tokens. Our cap table includes diverse global institutional, venture and angel investors that are motivated to support Shardeum’s success,” Shetty wrote in the blog post.