MegaETH deployed its mainnet Monday targeting 100,000 transactions per second, entering an Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem where co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently declared the original layer-2 scaling roadmap "no longer makes sense."
The launch arrives as Ethereum's base layer itself scales more effectively than anticipated.
The project achieved 35,000 TPS during week-long stress tests that processed 10.7 billion transactions, surpassing Ethereum's entire decade-long transaction history.
Ethereum's mainnet handles approximately 15-30 TPS according to blockchain analytics platforms.
Timing Raises Questions
MegaETH's high-speed positioning comes one week after Buterin argued that layer-2 progress toward full decentralization has been "far slower and more difficult than originally expected."
He noted Ethereum layer-1 itself now scales with low fees and expects significant gas limit increases in 2026.
Buterin suggested layer-2 networks should provide value beyond basic scaling through privacy features, application-specific designs, or ultra-fast confirmation rather than positioning themselves as essential throughput extensions. His comments questioned whether high-throughput chains connected through multisig bridges genuinely "scale Ethereum."
MegaETH's development arm MegaLabs raised $20 million in a 2024 seed round led by Dragonfly. The project completed a $450 million oversubscribed token sale in October 2025 backed by Ethereum co-founders Buterin and Joe Lubin, one of crypto's largest fundraises that year.
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Real-World Performance Uncertain
The MEGA token distribution rolls out gradually with certain unlocks tied to network usage milestones rather than releasing immediately at launch. Token economics remain partially determined by actual adoption rather than pre-defined schedules.
Whether MegaETH's theoretical 100,000 TPS translates to sustained real-world performance remains unproven. Solana advertises 65,000 TPS theoretical capacity but averages closer to 3,400 TPS under actual network conditions according to blockchain analytics data.
The launch tests whether demand exists for ultra-high-speed layer-2s as Ethereum's base layer becomes more capable and the ecosystem debates whether dozens of competing networks fragment liquidity and users.
MegaETH bets performance gains beyond current norms justify another scaling layer despite growing questions about layer-2 proliferation.
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