MegaETH mainnet to go live Feb. 9 in major test of ‘real-time’ Ethereum scaling

Tech Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email MegaETH mainnet to go live Feb. 9 in major test of ‘real-time’ Ethereum scaling This follows its October 2025 $450 million token sale that was heavily oversubscribed. By Margaux Nijkerk , AI Boost | Edited by Nikhilesh De Jan 28, 2026, 6:22 p.m. Make us preferred on Google What to know : MegaETH, the much-watched high-performance Ethereum layer-2 network, announced that its public mainnet will go live Feb. 9, marking a major milestone for a project that has gained a lot of attention in the scaling landscape. MegaETH positions itself as a “real-time” blockchain for Ethereum, designed to deliver ultra-low latency and massive transaction throughput. MegaETH, the much-watched high-performance Ethereum layer-2 network, announced that its public mainnet will go live Feb. 9, marking a major milestone for a project that has gained a lot of attention in the scaling landscape. MegaETH positions itself as a “real-time” blockchain for Ethereum, designed to deliver ultra-low latency and massive transaction throughput. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the The Protocol Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . The project has attracted significant attention and capital over the past year. MegaETH has been backed by prominent figures in the Ethereum ecosystem, like Ethereum co-founders Vitalik Buterin and Joe Lubin, and has raised millions of dollars to date. Most recently in October 2025, it completed a $450 million token sale that was heavily oversubscribed, CoinDesk previously reported . That sale, which offered roughly 5% of the protocol’s 10 billion MEGA supply, saw thousands of investors rush into allocations within minutes, underscoring intense demand for next-generation scaling infrastructure.‌‌ The project is being developed by MegaLabs which raised $20 million in a seed round led by Dragonfly in 2024, pitching MegaETH as a new kind of real-time blockchain rather than a traditional scaling solution. MegaLabs has said that the protocol is designed for applications that need near-instant transaction speeds, such as trading platforms, games and other consumer-facing crypto apps — an area where Ethereum has historically struggled during periods of heavy use. Read more: MegaETH Raises $450M in Oversubscribed Token Sale Backed by Ethereum Founders Ethereum News layer 2 Token Sale AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards . For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy . More For You Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture By CoinDesk Research Dec 30, 2025 Commissioned by Pudgy Penguins Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale. What to know : Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token. The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility. View Full Report More For You The Protocol: Ethereum to roll out new AI agents standard soon By Margaux Nijkerk | Edited by Nikhilesh De 3 hours ago Plus: Solana’s latest phase, OP token buybacks and EF post-quantum security team. What to know : Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at CoinDesk. 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