Since 2018, Nexera has been methodically building the foundation for a blockchain future aligned with institutional finance. Earlier this year, we introduced Nexera Chain, the first compliance-ready Layer 1 blockchain tailored for capital markets. Today, we reach a critical milestone: the launch of the Nexera Testnet.

This chain delivers a combination of deep regulatory alignment, modular architecture, and performance-grade infrastructure. It addresses one of the most fundamental problems in Web3: how to enable public, programmable, decentralized systems that meet institutional-grade compliance, reliability, and scalability.

Engineering for Regulated On-Chain Markets

General-purpose blockchains lack the primitives required to support financial institutions. Permissionless participation, pseudonymity, and opaque data models make them fundamentally incompatible with regulatory requirements like MiCA, FATF guidelines, and more. 

Nexera is addressing these limitations by treating compliance as a core architectural objective. While still under active development, features such as programmable permissioning, identity integration, rule-based asset transfers, and modular compliance enforcement are being designed as native protocol primitives.

Nexera Chain’s native protocol primitives ensure compliance readiness for enterprises and institutions

Crucially, Nexera introduces the concept of compliance gating and on-chain policy enforcement. This means smart contracts and asset operations will be governed by programmable rules that enforce jurisdictional boundaries, investor eligibility, and transaction conditions directly at the protocol level, without relying on external intermediaries. These enforcement mechanisms allow institutions to meet legal and regulatory obligations while operating in a decentralized environment.

By embedding these capabilities into the core infrastructure, Nexera aims to support institutional-grade use cases such as tokenized securities, digital fund infrastructure, and regulated DeFi with full auditability, governance, and legal enforceability.

Ethereum-Based with the Latest Upgrades

Nexera Chain is Ethereum-compatible by default. Smart contracts written for Ethereum can be deployed to Nexera without modification. Wallets like MetaMask, standards like ERC-20 and ERC-721, and toolkits like Hardhat and Foundry work natively.

Network in action: The network is generating one block every 12 seconds. Below are some additional numbers:

  • Total blocks: 231,093
  • Total transactions: 5,935,699
  • Total addresses: 39,050
  • Average gas price: 1.51 Gwei
  • Network utilization: 1.3%
  • Total deployed smart contracts: 8,518
Some early stats from Nexera Testnet

In addition, Nexera integrates the absolute latest Ethereum protocol upgrades. At launch, the Nexera Testnet includes the Pectra upgrade (a merger of the Prague and Electra upgrades), which is expected to reach the Ethereum Mainnet in the coming days. This means Nexera developers are building on an environment that is not only compatible but future-ready.

Reth and Lighthouse: A Strategic Rust-Based Architecture

Nexera Chain is using Reth for the execution layer and Lighthouse for the consensus layer. Both are written in Rust and represent a deliberate departure from the widely adopted Geth client that dominates the Ethereum landscape.

Reth, developed by Paradigm, offers a modern and modular Ethereum execution environment. Its Rust implementation provides memory safety without garbage collection, eliminating entire categories of bugs such as null pointer dereferencing and data races. Its design supports parallelization, efficient state access, and high-throughput transaction processing.

The workload is evenly distributed among the 5 network validators.

Our Nexera Testnet consists of five validators running smoothly on the cloud. We're diligently monitoring their performance by exporting both node-level and consensus-layer metrics to Prometheus, which we then visualize on our Grafana dashboard. As you can see in the example, our validators have demonstrated impressive stability with over five weeks of continuous uptime since their initial deployment, and efficient infrastructure utilization and capacity management. The dashboard also provides a live snapshot of the network's progression, displaying the current epoch and current slot.

A slot is a 12-second interval during which a validator is chosen to propose a new block of transactions to the network. Ideally, in each slot, a new block is produced and added to the chain. An epoch is a sequence of 32 consecutive slots, meaning each epoch lasts for approximately 6.4 minutes (32 slots × 12 seconds/slot). Epochs are significant because they mark periods where important network-level operations are performed.

The modularity of Reth allows Nexera to design future compliance modules directly into the execution layer. This opens the door to embedded logic for KYC enforcement, transaction tracing, or jurisdictional constraints, all of which are essential for institutional blockchain infrastructure.

Lighthouse, a stable and performant consensus client, ensures beacon chain integrity and seamless Proof-of-Stake synchronization. Combined, Reth and Lighthouse form a robust and secure Rust-based stack that promotes diversity in Ethereum clients and reduces the risk posed by the overreliance on Geth.

A Modern Infrastructure Stack

The Nexera Testnet is deployed using industry-standard DevOps tools, optimized for resilience, observability, and scalability.

Terraform provisions all infrastructure components as code, enabling reproducibility, version control, and automation. Ansible handles configuration and deployment, offering one-click orchestration across all environments.

A low API latency is a good health indicator of the Execution Layer

Nodes are deployed across multiple Availability Zones to maximize uptime and disaster tolerance. Security follows a strict least-privilege model, and system components are logically separated to contain risks. Automatic backups occur every 30 epochs, retaining the five most recent snapshots to ensure reliable data recovery.

RPC and WebSocket endpoints are fronted by an Application Load Balancer that distributes traffic across horizontally scalable API instances, providing high availability for users, developers, and institutions.

Blockscout serves as the testnet’s explorer, offering full visibility into blocks, transactions, contract activity, and account balances.

Example of Blockscout transaction detail

Connecting to Nexera Testnet

To begin exploring the network, developers can connect their wallets using the following configuration:

Alternatively, Nexera is available on Chainlist. Tokens for testing can be obtained via the official faucet.

A Track Record of Rapid Execution

The journey from Nexera Chain’s announcement to today’s testnet launch has been remarkably fast and focused. In just a few months, the team has:

  • Delivered a fully automated infrastructure deployment pipeline
  • Deployed Ethereum-compatible execution and consensus clients in Rust
  • Launched public endpoints, explorer, faucet, and validator nodes
  • Applied all the latest Ethereum upgrades, including Pectra

The testnet already supports thousands of transactions and dozens of smart contract deployments. With partners actively testing and developers beginning to build, adoption is underway.

What Comes Next

The testnet is the foundation. A rich ecosystem rollout is already underway:

  • Bridge Deployment: A bridge is being finalized between Sepolia and Nexera Testnet, allowing developers and users to move assets across networks. This includes bridging Sepolia ETH and acquiring tNXRA, the native token of the testnet.
  • TMI and ODC Deployment: Core modules like TMI (Token Market Infrastructure) and ODC (On-Chain Data Container - ERC 7208) are live. These modules enable compliant asset creation, data governance, and institutional workflows. Full documentation is available at https://contracts.nexera.network/
  • Transaction Activity and Growth: The network has already processed thousands of transactions and smart contract deployments. A detailed analytics dashboard is in development to showcase validator performance, gas metrics, and transaction volumes.
  • Ambassador Program: A community-led ambassador program will launch soon to reward early contributors, builders, and educators in the Nexera ecosystem. Participants will gain early access to tools, testnet roles, and staking opportunities.
  • TMI White-Label: A white-labeled version of TMI will be made available to enterprises, enabling businesses to quickly issue, manage, and track tokenized assets under their own brand while leveraging Nexera’s infrastructure.
  • Validator Onboarding: The next phase includes the onboarding of pilot validators. These will include ecosystem partners, research institutions, and infrastructure providers.
  • Compliance Modules and Audit: Nexera’s native compliance enforcement framework will begin test deployments, followed by external security audits of all core components. This ensures institutional readiness for the mainnet rollout.
A rich ecosystem rollout is already underway for Nexera Chain

A Network Built for What Comes Next

Nexera Chain is designed to support the future of capital markets, where real-world assets, programmable compliance, and global liquidity intersect. It is not a fork or an overlay; it is a purpose-built Layer 1 for institutions.

Nexera Testnet is designed with production-grade expectations. From the use of Rust clients to automation, security design, and developer tooling, Nexera offers one of the most advanced Ethereum-compatible testnets available.

The testnet launch marks a pivotal moment, and the path forward is clear.

Explore the network. Build on it. Push it forward.

Visit nexera.network to begin.