Nexus Activates Final Testnet, Aims for Mainnet Launch This Year

Nexus, a blockchain project, has activated its final testnet, marking a significant step towards its mainnet launch scheduled for later this year. The project, which aims to create what it calls "the world supercomputer," is designed to aggregate computing power to build a blockchain with a new architecture. This ambitious goal is part of Nexus' vision to overcome the limitations of current blockchain technology and enable the development of meaningful applications.

Nexus combines elements from other cutting-edge blockchain projects, integrating them into a single, opinionated layer-1. For instance, like Mina Protocol, Nexus aims to condense all blockchain states into a single succinct proof. However, Nexus uses its RISC-V-based zkVM to handle more complex workloads, including AI inference. This approach is similar to RISC Zero, which enables general-purpose Rust code to be proven verifiably. Nexus makes this VM a native part of its chain, not just a service layer, which could potentially be a direction Ethereum takes in the future.

For data availability, Nexus' planned sampling approach echoes Celestia’s modular DA model. Its consensus mechanism will evolve from the current CometBFT (formerly Tendermint) toward HotStuff-2, similar to Aptos or Sui. These consensus protocols provide fast finality, coordinating globally distributed proving tasks. Nexus also bakes in a decentralized compute cloud directly into its L1, turning every connected device into part of a single, verifiable computer built around an Incrementally Verifiable Computation (IVC) machine. The VM generates succinct proofs for every computation step, integrates those proofs via DAG-style propagation, and aggregates them into a single Universal Proof, using the Stwo (Circle STARK) prover.

This architecture theoretically enables horizontal scalability, where each added node increases network throughput. On the cryptography front, Nexus involves heavyweight figures like Jens Groth and Michel Abdalla, fortifying its credentials in zero-knowledge and blockchain research. The project claims over 2.1 million unique users across its various testnets, with about 4,000 active accounts currently. Nexus' CEO and founder, Daniel Marin, emphasizes that the protocol is optimizing for speed rather than decentralization in the near term, aiming for quarterly releases and targeting the trendy objective of being infrastructure for the AI era.

Marin's vision for Nexus is to break out of blockchains' limitations, making coding on a blockchain or zkVM feel indistinguishable from coding on a personal computer. He acknowledges that this philosophical take may not be popular with everyone but believes it is necessary for the project's success. The goal is to create a community where users feel they are part of building the future, with the ability to see other apps in the ecosystem, complete quests, and have fun. This approach aims to make the development process more engaging and user-friendly, aligning with the broader trend of making blockchain technology more accessible and practical for real-world applications.