What Is Somnia?

Somnia is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 network built with a focus on performance and cost-efficiency. With high throughput and low cost, Somnia is bringing the world on-chain with a scalable, distributed network capable of supporting data-intensive real-time applications and millions of users. 

Key Takeaways

• Somnia is a high-throughput EVM-compatible Layer 1 network for decentralized applications, especially gaming and entertainment. It boasts up to 1M+ TPS, sub-second finality, and significantly low transaction fees.

• Somnia’s high performance is powered by its multistream consensus, accelerated sequential execution, custom database, and streaming compression.

• Somnia aims to provide the infrastructure to build high-quality user applications, ranging from gaming and metaverse applications to decentralized limit order books.

This article is brought to you by Somnia.

Layer 1 blockchain network Somnia has reported performance breakthroughs in its testnet phase, hitting over 1M+TPS (transactions per second), while offering sub-second finality and sub-cent fees. Somnia is setting itself up to be the preferred blockchain for gaming and entertainment applications, both of which require high throughput and low costs to operate fully on-chain. 

In an interview, Paul Thomas, Somnia Founder and CEO, says, “A lot of what keeps us back is a lack of infrastructure to build high-quality end-user applications. I see the performance of the Somnia blockchain as solving a key challenge that will enable more engaging end-user applications that we haven’t even thought of today.”

Somnia announced its public testnet on February 21, 2025, and aims to recruit one million users to join the network and experience its performance and cost efficiency. 

Introducing Somnia

The Somnia project was launched in 2024 by the Virtual Society Foundation (VSF); the Somnia blockchain is being developed by Improbable – a venture building firm with expertise in the development of transformative solutions in the decentralized AI and Metaverse sector.

The Somnia blockchain is ideal for high-consumer applications like decentralized games. Its high-performance architecture has the potential to offer millions of gamers immersive experiences with zero lag, instant execution for advanced operations, and sub-cent fees. Also, as Somnia is an EVM-compatible network, developers can easily deploy their existing EVM applications to the network. 

Somnia’s Ecosystem Fund and Grant Program

On October 30, 2024, Somnia announced its developer grant program featuring $10 million in financial support for developers on the building applications network. The grant program will connect developers with leading Web3 investors, including Mirana Ventures, Spartan Capital, and CMT Digital. It will also provide support and tutelage in key stages of the project’s development, including go-to-market efforts and exposure for launched products. Projects launching in the ecosystem will also be introduced to the larger Somnia community as a way of facilitating their adoption and community growth.

In February 2025, Somnia announced that the ecosystem will benefit from a $270M ecosystem fund, which will be used to support builders and projects on Somnia, new initiatives, and driving mainstream adoption of high-speed, low-cost, and real-time blockchain applications.

Details of the application program can be found in this article.

How Does Somnia Work?

Somnia is a performance-focused blockchain network. The key aspects of the network that influence performance and cost-efficiency are optimized to ensure seamless operations. According to Somnia, the blockchain is also designed for scalability. It scales horizontally to adapt to increased demand, enabling the network to maintain top performance and cost efficiency even in extreme demand conditions.

MultiStream Consensus

Every validator on Somnia runs their own data chain, and a separate main chain, the consensus chain, keeps track of all these datachains and maintains order. 

Data chains: Data chains are independent chains that hold raw transaction data. These are fully controlled by validators, who are trusted with the control and security of their data chains. Data chains also have no safety nor consensus mechanisms.

Consensus chain: This data is submitted to the consensus chain for validation using PBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance) and Proof-of-Stake. 

By keeping only the record of the current state of the data chains, the MultiStream Consensus mechanism also creates an opportunity for further optimizations in data handling, some of which Somnia has leveraged to improve the network's flexibility, cost-efficiency, and overall performance. 

Accelerated Sequential Execution

One of the latest trends in blockchain has been to scale execution with parallelization, where they execute unrelated transactions on different cores simultaneously. However, Somnia has opted to use a single core that goes very fast. 

EVM Compilation: The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) typically uses interpreted execution, which can be slower due to redundant operations. Somnia’s own EVM compiler translates EVM bytecode into x86 native instructions, allowing it to achieve near-native execution speeds, enabling sub-second finality.

Hardware Level Parallelism: By compiling EVM bytecode to native code, Somnia enables hardware parallelism for individual transactions. For example, during an ERC-20 token transfer, a CPU can process multiple steps simultaneously, reducing execution. 

These ensure that Somnia can handle high transaction volumes, even during peak periods where multiple transactions need to access or modify the same data. 

Custom Database

Somnia’s custom-built database, IceDB, is designed to provide fast, consistent, and efficient data management. With IceDB, every data read and write returns the result and a “performance report” that details the exact resources used, allowing the system to charge users based on the actual load they put on the system. Also, operations that access frequently used data use less gas, which is great for users. 

Somnia’s IceDB also includes built-in snapshotting, where it creates efficient snapshots of the blockchain’s state without the need for additional complex data structures like Merkle trees. 

Streaming Compression

Streaming compression enhances data transmission efficiency by leveraging the shared history between senders and receivers, which allows for substantial compression by referencing earlier data points. As Somnia’s data chains involve validators managing a consistent data stream, they can reference previous data within their stream, enhancing compression efficiency and better data reduction.

According to Somnia, the network runs a data availability (DA) algorithm that augments the Streaming compression model and maintains operations even in cases where the blocks are proposed by different nodes. 

Somnia Use Cases

Somnia is a multi-purpose execution environment designed for high throughput, sub-second finality, and low cost. Some of the major use cases of Somnia include;

Gaming and Metaverse

Somnia’s high performance and cost efficiency make it the perfect platform for gaming and metaverse applications. Metaverses and games are data intensive real-time applications, involving the creation of decentralized identities and thriving economies built for on-chain ownership. By building on Somnia, developers also have the potential to create worlds with seamless interoperability, allowing assets, avatars, and more to cross over between multiple metaverses. Developers will also benefit from the network’s performance and developer-friendly infrastructure, including the ongoing grant program.

Notable gaming firms are bringing the gaming experience on-chain with Somnia, simplifying experiences for web2 gamers and developers. According to a recent press release, Uprising Labs is deploying its popular tactical warfare game, Maelstrom, to the Somnia ecosystem. It will feature web3 features that enhance gameplay, reward engagement, and introduce true-asset ownership, while maintaining fast-paced action. 

Somnia is also partnering with Uprising Labs to launch Dream Catalyst, a $10M six month accelerator program for game studios to build and scale blockchain-powered games. Dream Catalyst aims to provide mentorship, funding, industry connections, and other key resources to support the future of web3 gaming.

Other games to look out for include:

Dark Table CCG, the world’s first Cross-Collectible Card Game, which reimagines the digital card game experience with 4-player free-for-all combat with extensive customization abilities. As part of the Dream Catalyst accelerator, Dark Table CCG will receive support from Uprising Labs and Somnia for everything, ranging from development to marketing.

Netherak Demons, a dark-fantasy action RPG, has also joined Dream Catalyst, and will receive support from Somnia’s blockchain infrastructure and Uprising Labs’s publishing expertise. It will be leveraging Somnia to bring on-chain features to life, including player-owned gear, marketplace support, and fully tokenized progression.

DeFi: On-Chain Limit Order Books

Somnia’s speed and low cost are also ideal for building DeFi applications that use decentralized limit order books, which operate in a similar fashion to those seen on centralized exchanges like Binance and Coinbase. 

According to Somnia, on-chain limit order books will offer a transparent and self-custodial price discovery and order matching experience. With a low fee structure that complements its high-throughput and scalability, Somnia is capable of hosting an infinitely growing ecosystem of DeFi applications and enthusiasts.

Reactive Applications

Reactive applications enable event-driven interactions directly on the blockchain without needing third-party services or off-chain components. Somnia is integrating native support for events, timers, and verifiable randomness into its blockchain, enabling developers to build reactive applications on-chain. These reactive applications can include:

• Real-time games: For multiplayer online games, every player’s actions can be recorded and responded to instantly on-chain, enabling developers to create fully on-chain games where combat happens in real-time without lag or requiring centralized servers.

• Rewards programs: By combining with geolocation data, customers can trigger actions on the blockchain that grant them rewards when they participate in specified activities.

• Auctions and marketplaces: Somnia’s timers allow developers to build decentralized auction platforms where bids are managed and auctions completed without delays or requiring manual actions.

• Live event platforms: Live-streaming platforms can reward audience interactions in real-time, enabling immediate, on-chain engagement. This also works for prediction markets, which can be updated in real-time based on user votes or other external data.

SocialFi

Somnia’s cost-efficient and fast network is also ideal for social applications that connect people, while ensuring users own their accounts data. By building social media applications on Somnia, developers can create an ecosystem that allows creators to freely port their content and followers across ecosystems. 

Real-Time Applications

Apart from categorized applications like DeFi and GameFi, Somnia is also fit for a diverse range of applications. The execution environment is designed to deliver a better experience than web2 platforms, while offering decentralization, high performance, and low cost. This is fit for advanced applications and utilities that function using real-time data, such as prediction markets.

Sominia network creates an environment that supports creativity and allows developers to brainstorm and deploy applications that solve real problems or augment existing centralized and decentralized solutions. With ready-made SDKs and grants that support the ecosystem’s growth, developers from the web3 and web2 sectors can explore a better ecosystem for building new applications or porting existing ones. 

Final Thoughts

The performance expectations for blockchain networks have significantly heightened in the past five years. This is due to the increased workload from an ever-growing number of users and a growth in utility for blockchain networks. Somnia is tackling the performance challenges faced by blockchain users as a way of scaling blockchain adoption and improving overall user experience, while bringing web2 gamers and developers to web3. From decentralized gaming and metaverses to decentralized finance and SocialFi, Somnia is designed to put up with huge workloads and maintain high throughput. 

At the current testnet stage, developers and regular users can access the network and experiment with routine operations. For further information on the project’s development and launch, it is recommended that you follow official sources and verify all information to avoid interacting with malicious platforms.

Disclaimer: This article only discusses Somnia for educational purposes and is not financial advice.