MultiversX

On a chain without shards every validator processes every transaction, so the slowest validator sets the pace. MultiversX divides the network into execution shards, and each shard processes only the transactions of the accounts assigned to it. The metachain notarizes the blocks of all shards, keeps the validator list and moves part of the validators to other shards at the end of each epoch, which makes collusion inside one shard harder.

A transfer between two accounts in different shards runs in two steps: the sending shard debits the account, and the receiving shard credits it after the metachain has notarized the first block. Developers see one address space, but cross-shard calls between smart contracts complete asynchronously, which contract design has to allow for.

Supernova separates consensus from execution. Validators first agree on the order of transactions in a block and execute them afterwards, which the MultiversX blog describes as the step that made shorter rounds possible. The upgrade ran on the public testnet from April 2026 before it reached mainnet.

According to the Supernova page for builders, mainnet activated the upgrade in epoch 2233 on September 10, 2026, and the round length fell from 6,000 to 600 milliseconds. The length of an epoch did not change, so staking rewards and other schedules that count in epochs kept their timing.

xPortal is the wallet app of the ecosystem. In September 2025 the payment company xMoney raised 21.5 million dollars in a round led by the Sui Foundation, with MultiversX taking part, and xPortal also added the Sui blockchain. Through xMoney, users of the wallet can get a virtual Mastercard that spends assets held in the app.

For a bank the payment side raises the usual questions of a crypto card: which licensed firm issues the card, who converts the crypto into euros at the point of sale, and which customer due diligence the issuer performs under the EU rules on anti-money laundering.

MultiversX is a sharded proof of stake blockchain that started in 2020 as Elrond and was renamed in 2022. It runs smart contracts written mostly in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly, and since September 2026 it closes a block every 600 milliseconds.

EGLD is the native coin of the network and pays for transaction fees, smart contract storage and validator stakes. Holders who do not run a node delegate their EGLD to a staking provider and receive a share of the rewards, minus the fee that the provider sets.

The explorer of the network shows every transaction with the shard that sent it and the shard that received it, so a user can follow both steps of a cross-shard transfer. It also lists the validators, the staking providers and the tokens issued on the chain.

Users hold EGLD in the xPortal app on a phone, in a browser extension for decentralized applications, in a web wallet or on a hardware wallet. Institutions that keep client assets need a regulated custodian instead, and the questions of crypto custody apply here as on every other chain.

The public API and the documentation at docs.multiversx.com describe how to query accounts, send transactions and deploy contracts. The documentation includes a guide for preparing smart contracts for Supernova, because code that measures time in rounds runs ten times faster after the change.