Shannon Testnet goes live as Somnia gears up for mainnet launch

Feb 21, 2025 at 5:31 PM UTC

Edited by Jayson Derrick

News

Shannon Testnet goes live as Somnia gears up for mainnet launch

Somnia, a high-speed, Ethereum-compatible blockchain, launched its Shannon Testnet today as part of its push toward mainnet readiness.

Named after information theory pioneer Claude Shannon, the testnet follows DevNet benchmarks exceeding 1 million transactions per second (TPS), offering developers a scalable platform for real-world applications.

The Shannon Testnet introduces multiple third-party validators and staking protocols, enhancing decentralization and security. During DevNet testing, it processed over 3.6 million transactions across 300,000+ unique addresses, with sub-second finality and sub-cent transaction fees.

The time is NOW! Somnia’s Testnet: Shannon is LIVE. 🚀https://t.co/8xNRJIm1kB

Built to handle MILLIONS of users: fast, stable, and ready for real-world apps at scale. We’re aiming to have at least 1 MILLION users test it out!

✅ All essential dev tools integrated
✅ Live… pic.twitter.com/qaw3beo6i3
— Somnia – a Fully Onchain World (@Somnia_Network) February 21, 2025

“Shannon Testnet is the proving ground for a fully on-chain future,” Somnia founder Paul Thomas said in a statement to crypto.news, emphasizing its ability to handle millions of users at internet scale. This launch provides developers with an opportunity to stress-test applications under real-world conditions.

Somnia’s website outlines the testnet’s rollout, supported by infrastructure partners for seamless app deployment. The company claims its MultiStream Consensus enables parallel transaction execution without slowdowns, making Shannon a key testing ground for congestion resistance.

Tech and use cases driving shannon testnet

Somnia’s tech stack includes accelerated sequential execution and IceDB, a high-speed database with nanosecond-level read/write speeds.

“With 1M+ TPS, sub-second finality, and MultiStream Consensus, developers can build without limits, and millions of users can experience blockchain at true internet scale,”

Thomas noted. These features aim to support reactive apps, on-chain gaming, scalable DeFi, and metaverse platforms.

Context from the blockchain space

This launch aligns with a trend of blockchain testnets gearing up for 2025 mainnets. Ethereum’s Spectra Devnet5, launched in January 2025, targets a March mainnet debut with sharding upgrades for scalability, per a recent crypto.news report. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM testnet, live since late 2024, focuses on DeFi innovation with rapid transaction processing, fueling 2025 hype.