A new project wants to give blockchains their own “fast lane” on the internet. The DoubleZero Foundation announced Thursday that its highly anticipated mainnet-beta is live. DoubleZero is a network built to speed up how blockchain validators talk to each other. Instead of relying on the public internet, which can sometimes be slow and unpredictable, Solana validators can now connect through DoubleZero’s fiber routes, which let users transact faster. In simple terms, DoubleZero is like a private highway system for blockchains. While normal internet routes are designed to be cheap and broad, they aren’t built for the split-second coordination thousands of blockchain nodes need. DoubleZero says its network reduces lag and makes it easier for validators to process transactions and stay in sync, which could improve both performance and reliability for end users. "Blockchains and other globally distributed systems rely on thousands of nodes coordinating in real time. The efficiency of their communication layer directly impacts security, validator profitability and the end-user experience,” said Austin Federa, the co-founder of DoubleZero, in a press release shared with CoinDesk. The project has already seen early adoption. Currently, 22% of staked SOL is plugged into the DoubleZero network. Big industry names like Jump Crypto, Galaxy, RockawayX, and Jito are contributing fiber links and engineering resources, betting that faster internet infrastructure will pay off as blockchain applications scale. In March, DoubleZero raised $28 million and at $400 million in valuation, with Dragonfly and Multicoin Capital leading the initial funding round. Fueling the system is DoubleZero’s own token, called 2Z, built on Solana. Validators and stakers use the token to access the network’s high-speed routes, with rewards tied to how much utility they provide. Earlier this week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a no-action letter to DoubleZero, letting them move forward with the launch of the network’s native tokens. While today’s launch focuses on Solana, DoubleZero’s ambitions go further. “As part of its roadmap, DoubleZero aims to expand the chain-agnostic network to support additional blockchains and high-performance distributed systems,” the team wrote in their press release. Read more: ‘Crypto’s Flash Boys’: A Q&A With Austin Federa on DoubleZero
