Shardeum, the autoscaling Layer 1 blockchain, today announced its mission to power the next era of crypto adoption through a focused push into “PayFi” - the emerging category of blockchain infrastructure built to support peer-to-peer, micro and macro payments at scale. Shardeum has outlined its vision to make decentralization accessible to everyone by solving one of the Internet’s last missing primitives: low-cost, native, and scalable payments.
While blockchains like Bitcoin laid the foundation for decentralized payments, real-world adoption has been limited by high fees and technical constraints. Shardeum’s autoscaling architecture allows the network to expand based on real-time demand while transaction fees stay as low as $0.01 or less than Re. 1 INR as more users join the network.
The platform’s PayFi strategy centers on consumer-first, globally scalable use cases, including:
Macro Payments: Remittances, global payroll, crowdfunding, e-commerce, and institutional settlements.
Micro Payments: AI-to-AI transactions, tipping, IoT payments, pay-per-use apps, and real-time bill splitting - all underserved due to high transaction costs on existing networks that can be done at a significantly lower fee through Shardeum.
There’s a growing momentum around crypto-native payments, from Coinbase’s x402 protocol, and BitGPT to the continued investor interest in payment-focused chains. Shardeum’s unique combination of autoscaling, sub-cent fees, and EVM compatibility positions it as a differentiated contender in the PayFi space.
Shardeum’s mainnet launched on May 5, 2025. The network currently supports peer-to-peer SHM transfers, with EVM smart contract capabilities planned for a future release. With a consumer-first approach to PayFi, Shardeum looks to address real-world payment challenges that are yet to be solved at scale. The initiative reflects the project’s long-term focus on real-world adoption and inclusive infrastructure.