Sei

What is Sei (SEI)?

Sei is a Layer 1 blockchain that describes itself as built for trading. It is compatible with Ethereum tools, so applications written for Ethereum can run on it without changes. Sei began as a Cosmos-based chain whose mainnet went live in August 2023, and it has since added full Ethereum Virtual Machine support. Its source code is open on the sei-protocol GitHub organisation, and a US non-profit, the Sei Development Foundation, funds and supports builders.

How Sei works

Sei is designed to remove common bottlenecks in how blockchains process transactions. Its documentation lists three main parts:

• Twin Turbo Consensus: a fast consensus method with sub-second blocks and fast finality, which the project puts at around 400 milliseconds.
• Parallel execution: transactions that touch independent parts of the state run at the same time instead of one after another.
• SeiDB: a storage layer built for high throughput.

The network is also planning Sei Giga, a multi-proposer upgrade built on a consensus engine called Autobahn. The project's own figures for it are targets and are marked as subject to change.

SEI supply and token design

SEI is the native token. It pays transaction fees, is staked by validators and delegators to secure the network, and is used to vote on on-chain governance proposals. New tokens are released through a long vesting schedule. Because no fixed hard cap is reported for SEI, check the official documentation for the current emission and staking rules. Live circulating supply is shown in the market data on this page.

The Sei ecosystem includes onchain order books, stablecoins and payments, DeFi apps, tokenized assets and AI projects.

Sei's open-source code and public block explorers, such as Seitrace and Seiscan, let anyone inspect blocks, validators and token transfers directly, instead of relying only on the project's own dashboards. Developers can deploy existing Ethereum contracts and use familiar wallets and libraries, which lowers the cost of moving an application over.

Official information is on sei.io.

What to check before using SEI

• Performance numbers such as throughput and finality are project targets or test results. Real use depends on network load.
• Sei Giga is a roadmap item. Do not treat it as live until the project announces it.
• Staking rewards come from new issuance, so staking is not risk-free and unbonding rules apply.
• The chain competes with many other fast Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks, and liquidity can move quickly.
• Scheduled token unlocks add supply over time.