Altcoins & TokensBeginner

What is Sei? The network and its SEI token

Sei is a layer one blockchain, and SEI is its native token for fees, staking and governance votes. Sei Labs launched the mainnet and SEI in August 2023.

Vahe HakobyanEditor-in-chief Updated Oct 6, 20263 min readFact-checked

Illustration: World-Crypt

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How does Sei work?Who created Sei and when?How is Sei different from other chains?What risks and legal history?FAQ

Key takeaways

Sei handles independent transactions at once.
Sei is a blockchain, not an exchange.
Sei was built with Cosmos tools.

Short answer

Sei is a layer one blockchain, and SEI is its native token. SEI pays fees, secures the chain through staking, and carries governance votes.

A layer one blockchain is a base network that apps are built on. Sei is one, and SEI is the token that pays for using it.

How does Sei work?

Sei runs independent transactions in parallel instead of one after another, and confirmed transactions settle quickly. Sei v2 added compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine. The EVM is the software environment Ethereum uses to run smart contracts. That does not make Sei a layer two or a rollup.

Trading apps update many orders at once.
Games record many small actions.
Ethereum contracts move over easily.

Who created Sei and when?

Sei Labs developed the network. Jay Jog and Jeff Feng co-founded the company, and work began in 2021. The mainnet and the SEI token launched in August 2023.

A testnet is not the mainnet, and a launch is not a listing date.

How is Sei different from other chains?

Sei, Ethereum and Solana are all layer one blockchains and differ mainly in purpose. Sei was designed for trading and fast settlement, Ethereum for general purpose apps, and Solana for high throughput.

Sei compared with Ethereum and Solana
Criterion	Sei	Ethereum	Solana
Focus	Trading and settlement	General apps	High throughput
Built with	Cosmos SDK	Its own stack	Its own stack

What risks and legal history?

A bug or validator trouble can disrupt apps on Sei. Bridged assets carry extra risk, because the version on Sei is a claim on the bridge. In June 2023 the SEC sued Coinbase and Binance over tokens it called unregistered securities, and the suits did not name SEI.

Frequently asked questions

Sei is a layer one blockchain, not a decentralized exchange. Teams build those and other apps on top of it.

The original Sei ran contracts built for the Cosmos ecosystem. Sei v2, live since May 2024, added an EVM so Ethereum contracts run too.

Use a bridge that supports Sei. It locks or burns the asset on the old chain and releases a matching amount on Sei.

Yes. You add Sei to MetaMask as a custom network using the details in Sei's documentation.

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Written byVahe HakobyanVahe Hakobyan is the editor-in-chief of World-Crypt. He covers bitcoin, markets and regulation, and leads the newsroom that fact-checks every story before it goes live.