SHM is the ticker/currency symbol of Shardeum’s native token. SHM is the foundational monetary unit of Shardeum and serves a wide range of functions. Each SHM is divisible to 18 digits, similar to ETH on the Ethereum network.
SHM is a utility token with various uses, including:
SHM trading is live on leading crypto exchanges including Kucoin and MEXC. For full list of exchanges, please visit this webpage. More centralized and decentralized exchange listings are coming soon.
Any EVM-compatible wallet will work on Shardeum, including MetaMask and Keplr.
Following the community-approved SHM redenomination (1:240), the initial supply was adjusted to ~59.76 billion SHM. Allocations remain identical in percentage terms since this was purely a token split, not a supply increase through inflation.
Similar to Ethereum, node rewards will not be pre-minted. Validator rewards will still come from ongoing issuance, designed to keep the network secure and to ensure validators are always incentivized. What’s different is that the validator rewards will now follow a fixed issuance schedule rather than a dynamic model, which is by the way, a technical adjustment required by the validator design of the adopted EVM software. Instead of generating rewards dynamically, a fixed issuance schedule will define the supply allocated to validators each year.
In Phase 1, Shardeum has integrated proven, open-source EVM software into its Layer 1 network to accelerate adoption. The token-only sharded mainnet was transitioned to an unsharded mainnet with smart contract functionality on October 30, 2025. With this foundation, Shardeum will accelerate user growth in the near term, prioritizing India, to lead in the world’s largest untapped on-chain market. Today, there are 500M+ crypto users worldwide, and about 80M are active on-chain. In India, over 50M use centralized exchanges, yet only a few million are on-chain. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to convert millions of people into true on-chain users.
Driving adoption in a market like India takes two parts: a reliable network and a token people can actually use with ease. The EVM delivers the first; the SHM token split delivers the second. On October 6, 2025, we invited the community to vote on redenominating SHM supply from 249 million to 60 billion. 85% of the community voted in favor of redenomination. Splitting (not inflating) SHM to a 1:240 ratio will increase the token count and lower per-token price creating a stronger sense of affordability, driving retail interest in fast-emerging markets like India. Several projects like Ripple (XRP) and Polkadot (DOT) have shown how a high token supply can drive accessibility and create significant potential as real utility expands. Moreover, this helps exchanges, wallets, dApps, and first-time users onboard SHM more easily, creating a network effect favoring high adoption.
Yes. We regularly launch campaigns and reward programs for community members who engage with the ecosystem. Stay tuned to our official channels for ongoing and upcoming opportunities.
The SHM tokenomics model is currently being reviewed and updated following the launch of smart contract functionality on Shardeum. For the latest information, please refer to the tokenomics section of our whitepaper. An updated version of the whitepaper will be published once the review is complete. We appreciate your patience.
As noted in this blog, Shardeum is serious about decentralization from the get go and we had decided to raise funds across a large number of ECA participants and angels. Our goal here is to maximize the distribution of SHM and not to have a select few participants owning a majority of tokens. Our cap table so far includes diverse global institutional, VCs and angels that are motivated to help us build Shardeum and grow the Web3 ecosystem.
We also concluded airdrops for our ecosystem and community members for the pre-mainnet period. Since mainnet launch, we have continued to expand community participation through campaigns, ambassador programs, trading competitions, quests, IRL events, and other initiatives designed to grow the ecosystem, reward contributors, and further decentralize SHM distribution.
