Overview

This report focuses on key blockchain industry developments from April 3 - 10, 2025. Highlights include: Shardeum’s mainnet launch scheduled for April 15; Solana’s TVL reaching its highest level since 2023 with strong DEX market share; the official launch of Lens Protocol’s mainnet Lens Chain; Mantra’s launch of a $108 million fund to accelerate real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and DeFi project development; Bitcoin’s hashrate exceeding 1 Zetahash for the first time, marking a 1000x infrastructure leap; and Babylon’s planned launch of its L1 blockchain Babylon Genesis on April 10.

Projects

Shardeum’s Mainnet to Go Live on 4/15

Shardeum, an EVM-compatible sharded Layer 1 blockchain, is officially launching its mainnet on April 15, 2025. The project was initiated in 2022 by WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty and engineer Omar Syed. It features dynamic state sharding and a hybrid PoS + quorum consensus mechanism, aiming for linear scalability, low gas fees, and permissionless node operation, with a strong emphasis on decentralization and community-driven development.

The native token, SHM, will launch with an initial supply of 249 million — half of the originally planned amount — exclusively allocated for node rewards. Future token issuance will be dynamically adjusted based on staking participation and network security. The launch will coincide with its TGE and airdrop, distributing 5.5166 million SHM (2.22% of the initial supply). Airdrop registration ended on March 21. Shardeum has completed multiple testnet phases and secured over $23 million in funding from investors including Jane Street and Spartan Group.[1]

Solana TVL Reaches Highles Level Since 2023, DEX Market Share Remains Strong

Solana has shown continued on-chain strength despite a roughly 19% drop in SOL price from March 31 to April 7. The network’s total value locked (TVL) reached 53.8 million SOL — the highest since mid-2022 — equating to around $6.5 billion and surpassing BNB Chain by approximately $780 million. Its decentralized exchange (DEX) market share has climbed to 24%, solidifying Solana’s position as the second-largest DeFi ecosystem after Ethereum. Leading DApps like Jito, Jupiter, and Kamino have driven sustained capital inflows into the network.

However, this strong on-chain activity has not translated into price gains for SOL. On April 4, an unlock of approximately 1.79 million SOL introduced over $200 million in potential sell pressure, further compounded by early stakers taking profits. Additionally, fading hype around meme coins like WIF, POPcat, and BOME — all of which saw weekly declines of over 20% — has weighed on short-term user activity. Broader market weakness, with declining risk appetite and falling major asset prices, has also put pressure on sentiment toward SOL.

Nonetheless, Solana continues to receive positive recognition for its infrastructure, user experience, and developer engagement. While concerns around MEV mechanisms persist, the community remains proactive in exploring optimization strategies. Overall, Solana maintains a strong position as a competitive DeFi platform, with further developments worth watching.[2]

Lens Protocol Mainnet Lens Chain Officially Launches

Lens Protocol launched its mainnet on April 4. Lens Chain leverages Avail’s data availability layer and ZKsync technology to enhance network scalability and security. In addition, It also uses GHO stablecoin for gas fees, enabling efficient, fast, and gas-free transactions. The Lens Protocol mainnet includes three key infrastructure components to support decentralized social applications: First, the Social Protocol offers pre-built social features like accounts, posts, and groups. These features are modular and flexible, allowing developers to integrate them as standalone functions in existing applications. Second, Grove provides an on-chain permissioned storage system that ensures users retain control over their content and data security. Third, the Developer Dashboard presents an intuitive interface for developers to quickly integrate social modules, no specialized programming knowledge required.

The Lens Protocol mainnet launch marks a significant platform upgrade that enhances SocialFi infrastructure. By integrating zkSync’s hyperchain technology and Avail’s data availability layer, Lens Chain delivers efficient on-chain transactions, permanent storage, and flexible content deletion, meeting diverse data management needs for large-scale decentralized social applications. This puts Lens ahead of competitors like Farcaster, which currently only stores user profiles on-chain and hasn’t fully launched its mainnet. Lens’s advantages in security, scalability, and features position it to significantly influence the future SocialFi landscape. With 650,000 user profiles and 28 million social connections, Lens still trails traditional social platforms, but its blockchain-based social media vision is becoming reality. The positive community response to the mainnet launch suggests potential growth in SocialFi investments and new market capital inflows.[3]

Mantra Launches $108M Fund to Accelerate Real-World Asset Tokenization and DeFi Growth

Public blockchain Mantra has announced the launch of a $108 million ecosystem fund — the Mantra Ecosystem Fund (MEF) — aimed at supporting startups in the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) sectors. The fund will follow an “open-arms” approach, welcoming high-potential projects from all stages and across the globe.

Designed specifically for RWA use cases, Mantra plans to allocate the fund over the next four years by sourcing and investing in promising global projects focused on RWA, DeFi applications, and supporting infrastructure. The initiative is backed by several prominent institutions, including Laser Digital, Shorooq, Brevan Howard Digital, Valor Capital, Three Point Capital, and Amber Group. Notably, Mantra is the first DeFi platform to receive a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). With regulatory clarity and strong financial backing, Mantra is rapidly positioning itself as a leading player in the global RWA infrastructure space. [4]

Bitcoin Hashrate Surpasses 1 Zetahash for the First Time, Marking a 1,000x Infrastructure Leap

The Bitcoin network has officially surpassed 1 Zetahash per second (ZH/s) in hashrate — a historic milestone that establishes it as one of the most powerful supercomputing networks in the world. This marks a 1,000-fold increase in computational power over the past 16 years, reflecting the massive infrastructure growth since Bitcoin’s inception.

According to mempool.space, Bitcoin’s hashrate peaked at 1.025 ZH/s on April 5, while BTC Frame recorded 1.02 ZH/s the previous day. Coinwarz reported an even higher figure of 1.1 ZH/s at block height 890,915.

These variations stem from different estimation methods used by platforms, including differences in trailing block count, difficulty adjustment windows, and node selection. Nonetheless, the milestone is widely seen as a significant enhancement to Bitcoin’s decentralization and network security. Since first reaching 1 exahash per second (EH/s) in 2016, Bitcoin’s network hashrate has grown 1,000-fold. Today, Bitcoin’s hashrate dwarfs that of other proof-of-work networks — Litecoin, for instance, sits at just 2.49 Petahash per second, less than 1/40,000th of Bitcoin’s.

Behind this surge are major mining firms and continuous hardware innovation. MARA Holdings, now operating over 50 EH/s, stands as the largest single Bitcoin miner, while pools like Foundry USA and AntPool dominate mining distribution. Publicly listed companies such as Riot Platforms, Core Scientific, CleanSpark, Hut 8 Mining, and TeraWulf are also ramping up hashrate deployments to secure the network.[5]

Babylon Launches L1 Blockchain “Babylon Genesis” on April 10

On April 10, the Babylon Foundation officially launched the Babylon Genesis mainnet, a Layer 1 blockchain built with the Cosmos SDK, marking the first-ever implementation of native Bitcoin staking on a live mainnet. The network introduces a dual staking mechanism: Validators on Babylon Genesis accept staking in BABY tokens, while finality providers stake Bitcoin. A slashing mechanism is in place to penalize malicious behavior. The BABY token has an annual inflation rate of 8%, with 4% distributed to BABY stakers and the other 4% to Bitcoin stakers. Token transfers and staking functions went live at launch, with support from multiple wallets, custodians, and exchanges. Notably, Gate.io listed Babylon (BABY) for spot trading on April 10 at 18:00 (UTC+8).

In the first two weeks, Bitcoin staking will be limited to a Cap-1 phase (approximately 1,000 BTC) to ensure network stability and security during the initial rollout. After that, the system will open to all initial and new stakers. Babylon aims to expand Bitcoin’s utility beyond “payment” and “store of value” into the realm of “staking.” The launch of Babylon Genesis marks the second phase of the project’s three-stage roadmap. The first phase, completed in late 2024, saw 57,000 BTC staked. The final phase will focus on enabling other networks to leverage Bitcoin staking security — forming a broader Bitcoin-secured ecosystem. [6]

Notice
Users should exercise caution when participating, be mindful of risks, and conduct thorough research before involvement. Gate.io does not guarantee the future development of projects.


References：

1. X,https://x.com/shardeum/status/1907108205068779764
2. Dfillama,https://defillama.com/chain/solana?groupBy=daily&currency=SOL
3. Lens,https://lens.xyz/news/build-socialfi-apps-faster-with-lens-now-on-mainnet
4. Cointelegraph,https://cointelegraph.com/news/mantra-108-m-fund-rwa-tokenization-defi-startups
5. Bitinfocharts,https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-hashrate.html?__cf_chl_rt_tk=fJV1wrttmwqRy1YyQB24ZmrvAk9936aBEG2_Gl8VwME-1744261637-1.0.1.1-ivGuMquJesj2FMYRpF7hbD4NKzsilWd05pbvIs23TPs
6. Babylon,https://babylon.foundation/blogs/babylon-phase-2-launch-official-announcement

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