The Espresso Foundation announced today the official launch of the ESP token and the transformation of the Espresso Network into a permissionless proof-of-stake network, allowing the public to participate in network security maintenance.
Since its mainnet launch in November 2024, the network has confirmed over 65 million blocks across nine integrated chains, including ApeChain, RARI Chain, Rufus, and Molten Network. Projects planned for integration in 2026 include Celo (the first integrated OP Stack chain), Morph, Katana, Gate Layer, and LitVM (which uses a dual Ethereum and Litecoin settlement model).
Espresso aims to solve the fragmentation problem of Rollups. Ethereum transaction final confirmation typically takes over 12 minutes, while the Espresso Network currently has an average block confirmation time of 6 seconds and plans to achieve sub-second latency by 2026. At the application level, Rarible uses this solution to enable cross-chain NFT minting, allowing users to mint NFTs on another chain using funds from one chain without manual cross-chain bridging.
With the launch of the ESP token, the project is shifting from centralized development to decentralized infrastructure. ESP is a utility token used for network staking and participation. Protocol upgrades will be decided through community consensus rather than token-based governance. The total supply of ESP is 3.59 billion, with 10% allocated to a community airdrop to reward early adopters; this portion of tokens is fully unlocked today.
Since its mainnet launch in November 2024, the network has confirmed over 65 million blocks across nine integrated chains, including ApeChain, RARI Chain, Rufus, and Molten Network. Projects planned for integration in 2026 include Celo (the first integrated OP Stack chain), Morph, Katana, Gate Layer, and LitVM (which uses a dual Ethereum and Litecoin settlement model).
Espresso aims to solve the fragmentation problem of Rollups. Ethereum transaction final confirmation typically takes over 12 minutes, while the Espresso Network currently has an average block confirmation time of 6 seconds and plans to achieve sub-second latency by 2026. At the application level, Rarible uses this solution to enable cross-chain NFT minting, allowing users to mint NFTs on another chain using funds from one chain without manual cross-chain bridging.
With the launch of the ESP token, the project is shifting from centralized development to decentralized infrastructure. ESP is a utility token used for network staking and participation. Protocol upgrades will be decided through community consensus rather than token-based governance. The total supply of ESP is 3.59 billion, with 10% allocated to a community airdrop to reward early adopters; this portion of tokens is fully unlocked today.
