MultiversX (formerly Elrond) is a public blockchain protocol built with adaptive sharding for scalability, founded by Beniamin Mincu, Lucian Mincu, and Lucian Todea in Romania. Launched mainnet in July 2020 as Elrond and rebranded to MultiversX in November 2022, the network uses Adaptive State Sharding — simultaneously sharding computation, network, and state — combined with a Secure Proof-of-Stake (SPoS) consensus. The native currency EGLD (eGold) is the gas token and staking asset. MultiversX claims theoretical throughput of 15,000+ TPS with 6-second finality, achieved through its sharding approach. The ecosystem includes xExchange (DEX), XMEX (governance token), Hatom (lending), Maiar (later xPortal) wallet app, and a growing DeFi/NFT ecosystem.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | EGLD |
| Price | $3.78 |
| Market Cap | $112.31M |
| 24h Change | -1.6% |
| Circulating Supply | 29.73M EGLD |
| All-Time High | $545.64 |
Adaptive State Sharding
MultiversX’s primary technical differentiator is its three-layer sharding approach:
- Network Sharding: Nodes are partitioned into shards at the network communication level
- Transaction Sharding: Transactions are processed in parallel across shards based on sender address
- State Sharding: Each shard maintains its own portion of the global state — the most complex and powerful form of sharding
Adaptive: The number of shards changes dynamically based on network load — can shard or merge shards as needed. This is in contrast to fixed shard counts (e.g., early Ethereum 2.0 plans).
Cross-shard transactions: Transactions between accounts in different shards are routed via the Metachain (a coordination blockchain) using an asynchronous cross-shard mechanism, causing slight latency vs. same-shard transactions.
Secure Proof-of-Stake (SPoS)
MultiversX’s consensus mechanism:
- Validators are randomly and securely selected each round using randomness from the previous block
- Selected validators rotate between shards, preventing shard takeover attacks (an attacker cannot predict which shard they’ll be assigned to)
- Requires 2,500 EGLD to become a validator
- Delegation supported — EGLD holders with less than 2,500 can delegate to validators
- ~10% APR for stakers (variable by network activity)
Ecosystem
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| EGLD | Native currency; gas fees; staking |
| xExchange | Primary DEX; EGLD/MEX/XMEX liquidity |
| MEX / XMEX | Ecosystem governance and incentive tokens |
| xPortal (Maiar) | Mobile wallet and super-app |
| Hatom | Lending/borrowing protocol |
| xLaunchpad | IDO launchpad |
| MultiversX NFTs | Native NFT standard (ESDT) |
| ESDT tokens | MultiversX native token standard (no contract needed) |
Like Algorand, token creation on MultiversX doesn’t require a smart contract — tokens are protocol-native (ESDT standard), making issuance and transfers more efficient than ERC-20.
History
| Year | Events |
|---|---|
| 2018-19 | Elrond founded in Romania; $1.9M seed funding; $2M private sale from MultiversX |
| Jun 2019 | Binance IEO raise $3.25M for ERD (old token) |
| Jul 2020 | Mainnnet launches; ERD → EGLD swap (1000:1) |
| 2021 | Maiar wallet launches (later xPortal); DeFi ecosystem grows; $1.9B ecosystem fund announced |
| Nov 2021 | EGLD reaches all-time high ~$545 during bull market |
| Nov 2022 | Elrond rebrands to MultiversX; expanded vision for internet-scale adoption |
| 2023 | xExchange v2; ecosystem expansion; strategic partnerships |
| 2024 | xPortal super-app deepens financial services integration; cross-chain bridges |
Common Misconceptions
“MultiversX solved the blockchain trilemma perfectly”
MultiversX’s sharding achieves high throughput and good security with reasonable decentralization — but cross-shard complexity adds developer friction, and the ecosystem network effects remain much smaller than Ethereum. “Solving the trilemma” is a marketing claim measured against real-world ecosystem adoption, not just theoretical TPS.
“The rebrand from Elrond to MultiversX was just cosmetic”
The rebrand accompanied a strategic expansion of the project’s vision toward metaverse, gaming, and broader internet infrastructure — not just a DeFi/blockchain platform. The Metachain coordination layer’s role in the expanded vision was reframed around the “multiverse” concept.
Social Media Sentiment
MultiversX has a dedicated but niche community on CT. EGLD price performance has lagged in the 2025-2026 cycle relative to Solana and other L1 competitors. The rebrand from Elrond generated confusion that the community has partially overcome. xPortal super-app development is followed by loyal community members. CT broadly views MultiversX as a technically capable chain that hasn’t achieved the ecosystem density needed to compete with top L1s.
Last updated: 2026-04
Related Terms
Sources
- MultiversX technical documentation — comprehensive overview of adaptive state sharding, SPoS consensus, the ESDT token standard, and ecosystem components.
- MultiversX whitepaper — original design document by Beniamin Mincu, Lucian Mincu, and Lucian Todea detailing three-layer adaptive sharding and Secure Proof-of-Stake.
- MultiversX ecosystem data (DeFiLlama) — live chain TVL, protocol breakdown, and ecosystem analytics.