MegaLabs Raises $20M to Build Real-Time Blockchain MegaETH

Funding and Key Investors 

The $20 million seed round was led by Dragonfly. Notable angels like Vitalik Buterin, Joseph Lubin, Sreeram Kannan, Cobie, Santiago Santos, Karthik Talwar, Hasu, and Mert Mumtaz also participated. 

The Need for MegaETH 

Current blockchains struggle to handle the growing demand for decentralized applications. High throughput blockchains like Solana often face congestion and reliability issues. Ethereum Layer-2 solutions, while easy to develop, are not optimized for performance and have user limitations. 

People want to use stablecoins, bet on world events, and post content on-chain, but current blockchains fail to provide a reliable and fast experience. Imagine only 1,000 people being able to use TikTok at once, or Venmo transactions failing half the time. This is similar to the frustrating experience of using decentralized applications today. 

MegaETH’s Real-Time Performance 

By providing 100,000 transactions per second with millisecond-level responsiveness, MegaETH seeks to address these problems. This real-time performance allows on-chain applications to match the user experience of top web2 apps while maintaining decentralization. 

Key Techniques for Performance 

MegaETH’s performance is achieved through two key techniques: 

1. Heterogeneous Blockchain Architecture: Different network nodes specialize in specific tasks based on their hardware configurations. This boosts performance. 
2. Hyper-Optimized EVM Execution Environment: This environment maximizes throughput, latency, and resource efficiency, utilizing hardware limits. 

These techniques differ from today’s homogenous architectures, which use less than 1% of a modern Web2 server’s compute capacity. 

CEO’s Vision 

Yilong Li, CEO and Co-Founder of MegaLabs, stated, “Our mission is to bring Web2-level real-time performance to crypto. By leveraging Ethereum’s security and censorship resistance, we can create the fastest execution layer and state synchronization network possible without compromising blockchain values. Our holistic R&D approach addresses all potential bottlenecks pragmatically.” 

Industry Impact 

Tom Schmidt, GP at Dragonfly, said, “MegaETH is the iPhone moment for crypto: a platform that makes everything before it looks outdated. Existing blockchains fail under mass adoption.  

You can’t build financial infrastructure for the world by patching decade-old software. MegaETH lets developers build applications that feel like modern software while maintaining blockchain values: permissionlessness, transparency, security, and reliability. We’re excited to back MegaETH and see what people build on it.” 

Unique Use Cases 

Shuyao Kong, CBO and Co-Founder of MegaLabs, added, “MegaETH powers unique use cases like compute-intensive DeFi, fully on-chain games, instant payment networks with negligible fees, scalable social networks, and DePIN projects bringing Web2 data on-chain.” 

MegaETH Public Testnet and MegaMafia Program 

The MegaETH public testnet will launch in early fall, enabling builders to harness its performance and create unprecedented applications. MegaLabs has also launched the MegaMafia, a 10x builder program for founders exploring the frontier of decentralized applications. This program invites builders to create delightful, innovative applications in collaboration with the MegaLabs core team. 

Key Takeaways 

MegaETH promises to transform the blockchain landscape, offering real-time performance and scalability, and enabling a new era of decentralized applications.