Massa

Massa Labs is a Layer-1 blockchain infrastructure company that originated as a research project in 2017 and was formally established in France in 2020 by co-founders Sébastien Forestier, Damir Vodenicarevic, and Adrien Laversanne-Finot. The founding team combined their expertise to address the blockchain scalability trilemma, a core challenge in the industry. Forestier, with a Ph.D. in AI, initiated the project driven by an interest in scaling consensus protocols. He was joined by Vodenicarevic, a theoretical physicist with a background in accelerating machine learning, and Laversanne-Finot, who holds a Ph.D. in Quantum Cryptography and has a background in AI research.

The company's core technology is the "Blockclique" architecture, a multithreaded block graph that combines transaction sharding with a directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure. This design enables the parallel processing of blocks, aiming to achieve a throughput of up to 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) while maintaining decentralization and security. A key feature of the Massa blockchain is its support for Autonomous Smart Contracts, which can execute operations based on predefined conditions without requiring external triggers or bots, a significant step toward creating fully autonomous decentralized applications (dApps).

Massa Labs' business model centers on the utility of its native token, MAS, which is used for transaction fees, staking to secure the network via its Proof-of-Stake consensus, and on-chain data storage. The platform targets developers building dApps across various sectors, including DeFi, NFTs, and gaming, by providing a developer-friendly environment that supports TypeScript for smart contracts. A unique offering is the on-chain web hosting feature, allowing developers to host application frontends directly on the blockchain, accessible via ".massa" domains, which enhances censorship resistance and reliability.

The company's development has been supported by multiple funding rounds, including a €5 million private token sale in 2021 with over 100 participants from 18 countries, noted for its wide distribution to avoid token centralization. Following an extensive testnet phase with thousands of node operators, the Massa mainnet officially launched on January 15, 2024. Governance and ecosystem growth are managed by the Massa Foundation, established in Switzerland in 2023, which oversees grant programs and community initiatives to foster a decentralized ecosystem.

Keywords: Layer-1 blockchain, Blockclique architecture, autonomous smart contracts, decentralized web hosting, high throughput blockchain, Proof-of-Stake, transaction sharding, multithreaded block graph, Nakamoto coefficient, on-chain governance, decentralized applications, MAS token, Sébastien Forestier, Damir Vodenicarevic, Adrien Laversanne-Finot, Massa Foundation, decentralized DNS, on-chain automation, cryptocurrency ecosystem, DeFi platform