Getting Ready for MegaETH Apps

Last month, I wrote about how infra advances were on the cusp of bringing unprecedented speed to onchain games.

At the tip of the spear here in the Ethereum ecosystem right now? MegaETH.

While the Layer 2 network's mainnet will presumably launch later this year, its testnet is live and already showing how MegaETH's ambitions for 100k TPS and 10 millisecond block times are within reach.

That said, this kind of real-time speed will be a breakthrough for onchain builders and users alike. For context:

• Mainstream competitive online games are best enjoyed with a latency of 30 to 60 ms. MegaETH is poised to be faster than this out of the gate and via open onchain infra rather than siloed private servers. Of course, this speed is great for all sorts of apps beyond games, too, like DeFi, social media platforms, and so forth.
• There is a growing cast of fast chains, but MegaETH is set to instantly join the front of the pack with Solana. Solana's "shreds" system can power block times of ~15 ms, while community solutions like MagicBlock can reach ~10 ms there. And while other Ethereum L2s will keep getting faster, the fastest are currently topping out around 200 ms to the best of my knowledge.

Accordingly, one reason why MegaETH's arrival is going to be a big deal is because it'll pave the way to new kinds of culture apps in the Ethereum ecosystem, ones that weren't possible before without such rapidity.

Of course, speed isn't the only thing that matters—it takes all kinds of moving parts and various symbiotic flows to make a successful chain. On its own, one impressive technical pillar isn't enough.

My grand point? MegaETH has the potential to actualize a paradigm shift in the onchain landscape and become a hub for high-performance apps, so it makes sense 1) to track the L2's development in the coming months, and 2) to get your bearings in its early app scene ahead of mainnet.

Toward that second prong, you can add MegaETH's testnet to your preferred Ethereum wallet via Chainlist, and you can use the gas faucet at testnet.megaeth.com to prepare for your first transactions.

Then if you want to do some exploring, consider starting at Fluffle Tools. Built by Loudio creator ultra, the platform offers a suite of MegaETH resources like app guides, builder resources, and more. On the main page, it's helpful to toggle the "Live on Testnet" filter so you can find apps you can immediately try.

Then if you're interested in diving in, some projects on the culture side of things that I think are worth exploring or tracking early on include:

• 🧱 thirdweb — An onchain dev platform that supports MegaETH's testnet and other EVM-compatible chains. It lets you easily deploy pre-built smart contracts, like NFT collections or open-edition drops, so if you're interested in being a creator on MegaETH this is a great place to start.
• 🎉 RaribleFUN — By the Rarible team, this is an experimental NFT marketplace designed for high-speed trading on the MegaETH testnet. If you're more of a collector than a creator, this is one avenue to start nabbing your first NFTs on the chain.
• 🪙 XL — A multichain memecoin launchpad, imagine a more streamlined and aesthetically pleasing pump.fun and with deployments on multiple networks, including MegaETH's testnet. If you want to make your own memes or degen into new coins, consider exploring this platform.
• 🃏 Showdown — A free-to-play, 1 vs. 1 poker adaption, this deck-building game uses special "action cards" to bring more strategy and unpredictability to players' hands. The title recently launched its closed alpha, with its closed beta slated for later this year, so keep your eyes peeled here if you're a fan of card games.
• 🔮 Guess Best — A prediction market platform that operates through a Telegram bot through which you can make private betting rooms for your friends or community. You'll need a Telegram account to get started then, and funding is currently via Solana, but the underlying game actions are facilitated by the MegaETH testnet.
• 📌 HashPin — A protocol for "proving the existence and ownership of anything." It lets you register any digital file by hashing it and tying it to your wallet address, with an additional option to claim your pinned hashes as NFTs to your wallet.

Ultimately, these projects are just a taste of what's to come on MegaETH, but they are initial opportunities to start getting better acquainted with the network and the kind of real-time UX it can offer. Dive in today to get ready for tomorrow!