When we laid out the vision for MSquared in 2022, our goal wasn’t just to create immersive virtual experiences. It was to help reshape how the Metaverse fundamentally works. Not a closed ecosystem. Not a branded silo. But something open, decentralized, and composable. A true extension of the internet.
To achieve this, we knew parts of the Metaverse had to live fully on-chain. Yet for a long time, the infrastructure simply couldn’t support that vision. Blockchains weren’t fast enough, flexible enough, or cost-effective enough for real-time experiences in virtual worlds.
That’s why we’ve chosen Somnia as our default blockchain, and we're excited to build the future of MSquared on it.
We recently joined the Somnia team on X Spaces to announce this partnership discussing how Somnia provides the speed, flexibility, and scalability needed to elevate virtual experiences to an unprecedented level. As Somnia founder Paul Thomas highlighted, "Somnia isn't just fast—it's built precisely for the needs of the next generation of virtual worlds."
Here’s why we’re excited about working together:
Built for real-time responsiveness
Somnia is incredibly fast. With 100ms block times and subsecond latency, user interactions feel instant. You click something, and it happens. Paul emphasized this during our conversation:
“You as a user can click stuff and it’ll do stuff on-chain near instantaneously. That’s critical for real-time applications like metaverses.”
This unlocks entirely new applications and use cases previously impossible on-chain, such as dynamic inventory systems and seamless asset transfers between virtual worlds.
Economical at scale
Somnia dramatically lowers gas fees compared to traditional blockchains, making it feasible to host entire virtual worlds, not just individual assets fully on-chain.
Paul explained during the session:
“We’re aiming to make gas fees at least an order of magnitude cheaper than any chain out there today, really focusing on computation being super cheap,”
This cost efficiency removes major barriers for creators, studios, and developers, allowing them to build complex experiences economically. It also opens new possibilities for players, as the cost of on-chain transactions will typically be low enough that, in most cases, they could be fully subsidized by platforms or service providers, allowing audiences to engage without needing to worry about gas fees.
Unlocking richer on-chain compute
Somnia radically expands what’s possible on-chain. While Ethereum handles around 2.5 megagas per second, Somnia supports up to 50 gigagas. That isn’t merely an upgrade,it places Somnia in an entirely different category.
This computational leap lets developers move beyond asset ownership to bring the full logic of virtual worlds on-chain: player movement, inventory management, interactions, moderation, even entire economies, all with complete transparency, composability, and decentralization without sacrificing real-time performance.
EVM compatible without compromise
Somnia doesn’t ask developers to learn new tools or languages. It’s fully EVM compatible, allowing developers to build with existing standards while unlocking next-level performance.
As Rob Whitehead, MSquared’s CEO, put it:
“We had to go where the developers are.”
Paul also addressed a common misconception:
“There’s this myth in Web3 that the EVM is slow. It’s not—the blockchains it usually runs on are. Somnia proves the EVM can be fast.”
What we’ve built so far
We’re actively building on Somnia, creating demos, prototypes, and tools to discover the best technologies for MSquared and our customers.
A prime example is Etherbase, our innovative solution designed to simplify on-chain interactions. Inspired by familiar Web2 tools like Firebase and Supabase, Etherbase gives developers an intuitive, schema-based interface for managing blockchain data using technologies they already know, like JSON and React hooks. It’s fully open source and EVM-compatible, empowering developers to build sophisticated real-time blockchain apps without needing to write Solidity.
Rob explained the reasons we’ve developed Etherbase and how we gained inspiration from Web2 tools that developers were familiar with:
"When building Etherbase, we looked to Web2 tools developers already know, like Firebase, and created something intuitive, accessible, and powerful. You don’t need Solidity experience; you can start building real time blockchain apps right away."
Experimentation is at the heart of our approach. While some of our team showcased Etherbase alongside Somnia at ETHDenver, we simultaneously ran an internal MSquared hackathon to explore Somnia’s capabilities. Teams quickly developed engaging mini games, including an MMO shooter, a Minesweeper variant, and a Wolfenstein 3D-inspired prototype with key elements running entirely on-chain, clearly demonstrating Somnia’s speed and flexibility.
We also showcased Somnia’s responsiveness during the X Spaces session through a live demo by Monty, an MSquared engineer. Participants worldwide tapped fireworks on their screens, each triggering individual transactions broadcast instantly and rendered simultaneously across all connected clients. Over 30,000 transactions effortlessly streamed in real-time, vividly demonstrating Somnia’s capabilities.
But we’re just getting started. This week, we’re embarking on our most ambitious project yet: Chunked which is an immersive, voxel-based MMO sandbox where everything from exploration and mining to building and crafting is fully decentralized and stored entirely on-chain. This groundbreaking approach delivers true digital ownership, transparent player-driven economies, and a persistent sandbox universe limited only by your imagination.
Stay tuned, Chunked is launching very soon, and we can’t wait for you to experience it.
Thanks to everyone who tuned in to the Spaces, the full recording is available to listen to until the 19th of April 2025.
