Shardeum, a layer 1 blockchain co-founded by Nischal Shetty, the creator of WazirX, has scheduled its token generation event for May 5, 2025.
The project revealed the launch date in an announcement on X on April 17, noting that additional details about its airdrop, token sale, and SHM listings will be shared soon. This signifies a noteworthy progression for the project, which has faced several delays in its mainnet launch since its original timeline.
Earlier this month, Shardeum had originally aimed for a launch on April 15. However, due to unfavorable market conditions, the project postponed its launch to May, as mentioned in an update on April 10. The team indicated that although the technology is ready, a tactical delay would enable a stronger market entry since the conditions were still not ideal.
The upcoming launch of Shardeum follows an extensive development phase that encompassed several testnets: “Liberty,” “Sphinx,” and the incentivized “Atomium,” which allowed the platform to evaluate scalability and community engagement. According to the team, Shardeum’s testnet achieved remarkable milestones with over 171,000 validators and more than 81 million transactions.
Despite surpassing these technical benchmarks, the project has faced internal difficulties, with more than a dozen team members, including key community and business staff, departing in the past year, as reported by The Economic Times. Nonetheless, the company claims that its leadership remains strong, underscored by the recent appointment of Srinivasan Parthasarathy as chief technology officer.
To reward early supporters, Shardeum has outlined a three-phase airdrop initiative. In the first phase, over 3.6 million SHM tokens will be distributed to contributors involved in development, community, and validator roles. Participants from the incentivized testnet and mainnet launch campaigns will receive rewards in the subsequent phases.
The SHM token will have various roles within the network, including governance, staking, and gas fees. To sustain its deflationary model, Shardeum plans to burn all transaction fees. The total supply is capped at 508 million SHM, with more than half allocated for the community.
