Optimum Launches on Ethereum Mainnet, Reaching $3.4B in Total Value Boosted Across Leading Validators

Boston, US, October 20th, 2026, Chainwire

16 node operators and ~22,000 validators are now running mump2p, including Blockdaemon, Everstake, P2P.org and ether.fi’s full validator fleet

Optimum, the universal data acceleration network for blockchains, today announced that its mump2p data propagation protocol is live on Ethereum mainnet, with ~$3.4 billion in Total Value Boosted (TVB) across 16 node operators and ~22,000 validators representing 1.4M+ ETH in active stake, Early mainnet measurements show mump2p delivers blocks 2-4× faster, with 7.88× lower arrival variance than Ethereum’s native Gossipsub baseline, improving validator performance and economics.

The launch marks the first production deployment of Optimum’s networking architecture, built on Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC), co-invented at MIT and underpinning tens of thousands of studies across wireless and P2P networks. Node operators adopt it without touching consensus, execution, or existing infrastructure. Onboarding is permissionless and takes one engineer under an hour.

With Ethereum as its first deployment, Optimum is extending the technology to other high-throughput blockchains to help them scale without sacrificing decentralization.

"In traditional finance, firms spend billions shaving milliseconds off execution because speed is money. The same economics now apply to Ethereum’s top operators," said Muriel Médard, co-founder and CEO of Optimum and professor at MIT. "This goes beyond validator performance. Optimum is the optimal acceleration path, built on a new coded networking approach for systems that are truly decentralized, where nodes don’t rely on one coordinator with perfect information. That's the foundation blockchains need so speed, scale and decentralization stop being a tradeoff and become the competitive edge instead."

A New Blockchain Networking Architecture, Starting with Ethereum

Today, Ethereum's networking relays the same data repeatedly across peers, so validators see the same block at different times. Late blocks mean missed attestation and MEV rewards, and the cost falls hardest on geographically remote validators, exactly why stake clusters near infrastructure hubs today.

In early mainnet measurements, validators running mump2p saw the block before libp2p, Ethereum's default networking layer, in 9 of 10 measurements. Average block propagation ran 2-4x faster than the GossipSub baseline, while propagation variance ran roughly 7.88x lower, faster delivery and far more consistent delivery.

The Impact: Already Running at Scale

Optimum’s protocol mump2p is now live in production with 16 leading Ethereum node operators, including Blockdaemon, Everstake, P2P.org, Stakefish, Luganodes, InfStones, Meria, Finoa, Node.Monster, HashKey Cloud, DSRV, RockX, Nansen, Validatrium, Ebunker and Validation Cloud, accelerating propagation for 1.4 million ETH in active stake, more than 3% of all staked ETH, across roughly 22,000 validator keys.

EtherFi, an onchain neobank managing more than $6 billion in assets across its staking, restaking and card products, recently required all 12 of its node operators to run Optimum’s mump2p, moving the protocol from optional to standard across its entire validator set and driving a significant increase in the stake connected to the network.

“We don't mandate new infrastructure across our entire validator set unless we're confident it raises the bar for our stakers and for the network,” said Rok Kopp, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer, ether.fi. “Better networking means better outcomes for stakers and a stronger Ethereum.”

For Blockdaemon, one of the world's largest institutional blockchain infrastructure providers, securing more than $110 billion in digital assets with over $10 billion staked across its validators and 400+ institutional customers across 250,000+ nodes launched, the significance extends beyond a marginal networking optimization.

"Validator performance is a game of margins, and the ones you can control are worth chasing. Propagation timing is one of them. At the scale we secure digital assets for institutional clients, these controllable margins compound — and every improvement we can make with confidence matters." said Dan Spina, Engineering Manager, NodeOps, Blockdaemon

Connecting to the mump2p protocol is free and permissionless. Node operators can get started at getoptimum.xyz/product.

View the network dashboard at hub.getoptimum.xyz.

About Optimum

Incubated at MIT & Harvard, Optimum is building the universal data acceleration network for blockchains, starting with a high-throughput, low-latency networking protocol powered by Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC). By redesigning how data is transmitted and accessed, Optimum transforms today's fragmented networking systems into a globally efficient network.

Learn more at getoptimum.xyz. Follow Optimum on x.com/get_optimum.

About ether.fi

Ether.fi is the leading onchain neobank for digital asset management. With $6B+ in AUM across Cash (crypto card), Stake (restaking), and Liquid (liquid restaking derivatives), ether.fi has established category dominance in crypto neobanking—the rare institutional-grade product built for consumer adoption. You can learn more about ether.fi by following them on X (Twitter) or visiting their website.

About Blockdaemon

Blockdaemon is the trust layer for institutional finance onchain. As blockchain moves from experiment to market infrastructure, Blockdaemon provides the foundation institutions require institutional-grade encryption and key management, secure wallet infrastructure, staking and node operations, and the rails for agentic transfers — value movement executed by AI agents with institutional controls. Trusted by the world's leading banks and asset managers, Blockdaemon makes innovative finance safe at scale. For more information visit: www.blockdaemon.com

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