what's ZugChain?

ZugChain is a hybrid Layer 1 blockchain engineered as the global settlement layer for institutional-scale applications. It unifies Bitcoin's scarcity model with Ethereum's programmability through Vertical Sharding (N=256 parallel shards), enabling 100,000+ TPS and sub-2-second cross-shard finality via Asynchronous Atomic Messaging (AAM). The architecture features stateless execution for lightweight nodes (2-core CPU, 4GB RAM), Proof-of-Stake consensus with Gasper, full EVM compatibility, and modular layers (decoupled execution via modified Geth and consensus via Prysm). Security includes slashing mechanisms and anti-correlation penalties. The native token ZUG has a 1 billion max supply, enforced by halvings and 50% fee burns for disinflation. Tokenomics allocate for presale, ecosystem, treasury, and vested team. Currently in incentivized public testnet (Chain ID 824642, 6s blocks), participants earn Genesis Points through faucet, staking, validation, and missions via Mission Control, contributing to Season 1 leaderboard for future airdrop eligibility. Roadmap targets full mainnet launch and TGE in Q3 2026 following audits and scaling tests.