Shardeum Mainnet Launches with a Bang—Validator Testnet Smashes Participation Records

Move over, Ethereum—Shardeum just flipped the switch on its mainnet after blowing past validator testnet expectations. The layer-1 blockchain, built for scalability, saw a stampede of validators rushing to stress-test its architecture pre-launch.

Why it matters: While other chains choke on congestion fees, Shardeum’s dynamic state sharding promises to handle the load. Of course, in crypto-land, ’promises’ are worth less than a meme coin’s whitepaper until proven under real-world trading frenzy.

The cynical take: Wall Street still won’t care—unless it can short the token.

Shardeum’s token distribution

Shardeum’s native token, SHM, will also be launched alongside its mainnet, with a total circulating supply of 249 million tokens. According to the project’s tokenomics, around 36.72% will go to the community token sale while 30.6% of the tokens will be allocated to the team. Both token distributions come with a 3-month cliff period and a two-year daily linear vesting timeline.

Meanwhile, 22.44% of tokens will go to the project’s foundation and will be unlocked during the token generation event. The same applies for 10.23% of tokens allocated to the ecosystem and airdrop distribution. The protocol’s token will be used for various on-chain functions, including governance, staking, and gas payments.

So far, SHM is set to be listed on major crypto exchanges including BitMart, CoinW and MEXC. On the other hand, the mainnet will be integrated into EVM-supporting wallets, such as MetaMask, OKX Wallet, and Trust Wallet.

Chief Technology Officer of Shardeum, Srini Parthasarathy said the launch of the project’s mainnet is not just a technical milestone, it is also proof that it is possible to solve what many deemed as the “blockchain trilemma,” which often resulted in a trade-off.

“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,” said Parthasarathy.

In the later half of 2025, Shardeum expects developers to start testing smart-contract functionality, followed by stable dApp deployments soon after.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Shardeum’s mainnet launch was originally slotted for April 15. However, it was eventually delayed to May due to unfavorable market conditions.