Blockchain architecture can be viewed on a spectrum where, on one end, there are general-purpose smart-contract chains like Solana or Ethereum, and on the other, specialized app chains or roll-ups are built to serve a specific niche in the market.

Sei Network claims to sit smack in the middle of this spectrum, providing users with a permissionless smart contract chain but with a few tricks that cater to a specific set of use cases. Take an order-book matching mechanism baked into the chain’s logic, add blazing-fast block times, and you’ve got yourself the perfect destination for exchanges and trading apps.

Cosmos SDK on steroids

Sei Network is powered by the most widely used framework for Layer 1 blockchains: Cosmos SDK and its accompanying CometBFT consensus engine (prev. Tendermint core).

This framework's main advantage is that it comprises pre-made building blocks that developers can easily assemble to create a new chain. These blocks are interchangeable, like Lego pieces, enabling developers to personalize and build a tailored version that aligns with their project's unique requirements.

To speed up block times, which for the average Cosmos chain is around 5 seconds, SEI Labs took the vanilla Cosmos stack and put it through a grueling training camp.

Out came a beast with a custom Twin-Turbo consensus and multiple degrees of parallelization to minimize latency and maximize throughput. This results in a chain with an average block time of 410ms and a theoretical throughput of 12,500 TPS.

The chain for traders

To ensure an optimal trading experience, SEI Network has implemented two important technical novelties:

• Native oracles;
• Built-in central limit orderbook (CLOB) module

Traditionally, blockchain systems resort to third-party Oracles like Chainlink, API3, Pyth Network, and others to keep track of various asset prices. For SEI Network, however, where the focus is on minimal latency and blazing-fast trade execution, a native Oracle system had to be built.

The validators of SEI Network are responsible for ensuring swift price updates and fresh asset pricing on a block-per-block basis.

Sei V2: Parallel EVM

Since the introduction of EVM, better and faster smart contract frameworks have emerged, most notably the Solana virtual machine (SVM).

SVM possesses numerous advantages over EVM, such as localized fee markets and parallel processing, resulting in a smart contract environment with much faster execution, lower transaction fees, and reduced congestion issues.

Initially, SEI only supported CosmWasm smart contracts, but the V2 network upgrade introduced parallelized EVM. This development brings SEI the best of both worlds: the mindshare of the EVM community with transaction throughput that matches Solana's.

Team and Ecosystem

SEI Network, founded by Jayendra Jog, a former Robinhood engineer, and Jeff Feng, a Goldman Sachs and Coatue alum, raised $35 million in funding from industry giants, including Multicoin Capital, Jump, Coinbase, and OKX Ventures.

The ecosystem already boasts more than 120 partners, including applications, wallet providers, auditing firms, bridges, infrastructure providers, and many more.

$SEI tokenomics

As with all Proof-of-Stake chains, the SEI network employs an inflationary token model that dishes out block rewards to validators and delegators who help secure the chain. $SEI token has a max supply of 10 billion tokens. $SEI is used to pay for gas and vote on governance proposals.

A substantial portion of the tokens, 48%, are reserved for staking rewards, ecosystem initiatives, and other incentive mechanisms, with the rest allocated mainly to the team and early investors.

Conclusion

Trading is the number one activity in crypto, so a platform that excels in this aspect is bound to arise. The question is whether the incremental improvements are compelling enough for users to switch over.

The integration of parallel EVM is a promising step forward for SEI as it lowers the barrier to entry for users and developers alike, which can help boost adoption.