300K Strong: Celebrating Those Behind Shardeum’s Discord Growth

Within one year of creating its Discord Server, Shardeum has become the second-biggest L1 community on the platform. And yes, none of it would have been possible without YOU! That’s the beauty of Web3 – the community drives the growth behind networks, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Since Day Zero of activating our Server, the goal has been simple: To not only use it to update our community about what we’re building but also involve you to help us build and grow Shardeum.

Committed to following the guiding principles of OCC, we started conducting public marketing standups every Monday, 2:30 PM UTC (10:30 AM ET), to share updates and invite ideas and feedback. On Discord, Shardeum’s current logo was conceptualized, iterated, and made live – all with the help of community members dearly known as “Shardians”! Shardeum is a network built by community members. It is also reflected in the various regional channels you created on the server to educate your audience about Shardeum in your native language; these channels were the genesis of the Shardeum Leagues initiative, with over 44 leagues having thousands of members already.

Celebrating the 300K mark, let’s look back at some of the key milestones and initiatives that have helped us grow:

• Decentralized Moderation empowers community members to moderate Shardeum’s Discord server on a rotational basis.
• dApp Library sessions to showcase the projects building in our ecosystem. We’ve done over 20 episodes, and many more to follow!
• Weekly new member onboarding calls where we show them the ropes on navigating the server and getting the most out of it.
• Community hours, where our core team takes people through tips and tricks for growing their communities.
• Tech hangout, where Omar and the tech team share tech updates and tips.
• Ability to claim your testnet SHM token on Discord.

Today, there are over 20 language-based communities, including and not limited to Hindi, Chinese, Turkish, Russian, and more. Who runs these communities? YOU!

Saloni, one of our most active contributors, said, “I have been a part of the Shardeum Discord community since its early days. Over time, I started doing Twitter spaces and contributing to various Shardeum projects, which allowed me to demonstrate my skills and passion for the ecosystem. The Shardeum Discord community has helped me build a strong network of friends and collaborators and enabled me to stand out and make a difference within the ecosystem. It’s a testament to the power of a supportive and passionate community, and I am truly grateful for the opportunities and growth it has provided me.”

Since inception, our focus has been to ensure that everyone on Shardeum’s Discord – developers, community builders, DevRels, budding entrepreneurs, or Web3 curious – should get some value out of it. For instance, one of Shardeum’s early contributors, Vaijanath, met his co-founders on Shardeum Discord, and together, they built ChainHash. He said, “I used to attend all the events and tech hangouts every Saturday. Over time, I started answering the tech questions from the community. It gained traction, and I started doing the same on my Twitter account. Like me, my co-founders joined Shardeum Discord and other socials independently, without knowing each other. While contributing to the OCC principles of Shardeum, we connected and realized each other’s strengths and planned to collaborate and build a great product together. ChainHash is born from the collaborative attributes of Shardeum.”

Similarly, Suhas, who started as a contributor, is now leading Marketing at DotShm, another project in the Shardeum ecosystem. “I joined to connect with all the web3 enthusiasts. Programs like Super Shardian motivated me to explore things I’ve never done before, like managing/building communities, organizing events like meetups-webinars, making videos, writing blogs, etc. It also created a J-curve in my growth,  after I joined as a team member in DotShm, and launched my community group Varchas. Fellow Shardians have always had my back”, said Suhas.

We’re proud to share that today,  Shardeum’s Discord is a server of the community, for the community, and by the community. A big shout-out to some of our other long-time contributors, Aaron, Pinoy, Shuwam, Suhas, Mayur, and Greg, who have helped us reach where we are today! Also, kudos to Kampred, Sanjai, Block wu, HHUH, Carnage Dima, Farukyasar, Kranoormeec, 0xSimba, Iprincemoon, Metachain, Ky, Ugur, Venu, Skraaj for voluntarily moderating the language communities. Thank you!

Did you know that our committer, Subbu, started as a contributor? Here’s his story: “I was just at the right place at the right time. I learned about Shardeum from a LinkedIn post and was impressed by its unique architecture. Shardeum was the first server I joined on Discord. Nischal (co-founder, Shardeum) noticed me actively engaging and helping early Discord members and invited me to join Shardeum Foundation full-time. The chance to work for an L1 blockchain doesn’t come too often, and I’m glad my decision opened me up to decentralization and Web3, which is indeed the future.”

We’re building the first-ever linearly scalable sharded blockchain, and it’s an opportune time for you to come on board and start contributing! Shardeum thrives on the community’s contributions and recognizes them for their efforts. Soon, we are announcing a new initiative Community Member of the Month: Discord. This initiative will recognize top members who will help new and old members understand the roles of different channels, keep up with activities such as Quiz and dApp Library, and support them with their technical questions or direct them to relevant docs and resources.

If you are starting in Web3 now, you are still an early adopter of the ecosystem. If you have any ideas, thoughts, or feedback on enhancing the community experience, please don’t hesitate to share it with the rest of us; after all, we’re building this together!