The pitch: Zero-cost gaming infrastructure
Myria uses zero-knowledge rollups specifically designed for games. Brendan Lee, Aarjav Trivedi, and Liam Zebedee built this because Ethereum gaming was financially broken. A single NFT mint cost $10–$100. Players couldn't afford to play. Myria solved it by compressing thousands of transactions into cryptographic proofs verified on Ethereum in constant time.
The throughput is 8,000+ transactions per second. Gas fees approach zero for most actions. NFT minting is free. This changes the entire economics of blockchain gaming.
The token (MYRIA) ranks about 310 by market cap. Emphasis is on rewarding developers and community members, not just investors. The token economics favor sustainable growth over quick exits.
Free NFT minting is the revolutionary part. Web2 games don't charge you to pick up an item. Blockchain games on Ethereum did. Myria fixed it. That one feature is why gaming studios actually care about the platform.
How it came about
2019-2020. Brendan Lee looked at Ethereum and realized it was a dead-end for games. Twelve to fifteen transactions per second max. Sub-second responsiveness? Forget it. The founding team recognized that zero-knowledge rollups were the only technology that could work.
Optimistic rollups needed a seven-day fraud proof window. For gaming, that's horrible. Cairo-based ZK rollups offered immediate finality with cryptographic certainty. That was the move.
Collaboration with StarkWare was essential. Implementing Cairo requires deep math: constraint systems, algebraic geometry, specialized cryptography. The Myria team brought gaming expertise; StarkWare brought the cryptography. Together they built Cairo libraries optimized for games.
Testnet went live November 2020. The team did extensive user interviews with game developers to improve the experience. Mainnet launched February 1, 2023, after audits by Consensys Diligence, OpenZeppelin, and StarkWare's own security people.
Post-launch was rapid. Immutable Games, Decentraland, and countless indie devs deployed immediately. They weren't waiting—they had games to ship, and Myria let them. By 2024-2025, it became the default for serious blockchain gaming.
The technical approach
Myria's Cairo runtime executes smart contracts compiled to STARK-compatible constraint systems. Cairo is specialized—it's built for algebraic constraint computation, not general programming. This sounds limiting until you realize games don't need general-purpose code. They need efficiency.
Sequencers batch 1,000–10,000 transactions into blocks. A specialized prover (heavily optimized hardware) executes all those transactions simultaneously and generates constraints describing valid state transitions. These constraints turn into STARK proofs through iterative hashing and polynomial commitments.
STARK proofs are weird to explain. Multiple layers of cryptographic composition progressively compress proof size. The final proof is about 100 kilobytes regardless of transaction count. Ethereum verifies it in 100,000-150,000 gas, confirming 1,000+ transactions in a single block.
State compression is smart: Myria doesn't store complete account state on Ethereum. Just state root commitments. Users keep local copies verified with Merkle proofs. This drastically reduces Ethereum's storage load compared to other rollups.
The mempool handles gaming workloads. Priority queues instead of FIFO. High-priority gaming actions skip the line ahead of lower-priority transactions. Better for game responsiveness, especially latency-sensitive apps.
Gasless contract deployment. Zero-cost NFT minting and transfer. These aren't tricks—they're core to the architecture. This is why studios actually use it.
Consensus and finality
Myria doesn't roll its own consensus. Sequencers batch transactions; provers generate STARK proofs; Ethereum validators verify the proofs. Finality comes when the batch hits Ethereum, usually 12-15 minutes after batching starts.
MYRIA token holders vote on sequencer selection. Sequencers bond tokens. Bad behavior gets slashed. Economic incentives work.
Proofs provide cryptographic certainty. No fraud proof windows. No behavioral assumptions. If the proof verifies, the state transition is valid. If it doesn't, it gets rejected. That's it.
Transaction finality reaches Ethereum L1 security guarantees through settlement. Reordering Myria transactions requires controlling Ethereum majority stake. So they're as secure as Ethereum itself, once finalized.
Token supply and economics
2 billion max supply. 400 million circulating (20% of max) as of April 2026.
Founding team: ~20% of supply, 4-year vesting. Investors: ~35%, same vesting. Ecosystem development funds: ~25%, released via governance-approved grants. Public and community: ~20%.
Gas fees use MYRIA tokens, though fees are often negligible due to the throughput. Developers and participants can stake MYRIA for governance rights and fee distributions.
Incentives are specific: game studios get ecosystem grants for deploying significant games. NFT creators minting big collections get token distributions. Community contributors (documentation, SDKs, tools) get grants.
Staking generates yield from network fees. Longer stakes and higher amounts earn more. Activity bonuses apply during high network load.
What's actually running on it
Over 800 applications, 70% gaming and NFTs.
Games span genres: real-time strategy, tower defense, roguelikes, play-to-earn, decentralized esports. Realms Autonomous World is a sophisticated on-chain strategy game. Perpetual Games handles derivatives trading. Hundreds of indie projects launched.
The difference is gameplay quality. Solana and other chains had lag problems. Myria doesn't. Competitive games actually work.
NFT marketplaces have exploded: Myria NFT, OpenSea integration, domain-specific platforms for in-game trading. Free minting enabled the volume.
DeFi is smaller but growing: AMM DEXes, Aave integration in progress, derivatives platforms. Cairo smart contracts support complex interactions and yield strategies.
Interoperability bridges let assets flow between Ethereum and Myria. Portal/Wormhole integration does the same. Capital moves freely.
Major gaming projects organize into DAOs for decentralized governance and treasury management. Games manage development decisions and economic parameters community-style.
Governance
Myria DAO controls protocol parameters, fees, and resource allocation through MYRIA token voting. Snapshot voting is free. On-chain voting is for critical changes and costs gas.
Proposals get discussed in forums and Discord, then voted on (3-7 days typically). Critical changes (proof verification, fee structures) need supermajority. Routine tweaks need simple majority.
The founding team still handles technical matters with community oversight through formal voting. This provides enough centralization for rapid development while protecting community interests.
Discord has 150,000+ members. Regional communities organize locally across Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America. Gaming events and developer meetups happen regularly.
Developer grants allocated from the foundation. About 50 million MYRIA annually supports innovative games.
Educational push includes documentation, tutorials, and an annual gaming summit. The summit brings together devs, esports orgs, and researchers.
Security and audits
Consensys Diligence, OpenZeppelin, and StarkWare all audited the system. The STARK proof system got joint review with StarkWare researchers. Auditors confirmed STARK proofs provide cryptographic certainty equivalent to hash function security.
Cairo smart contract audits found low-severity library issues, all fixed. Subsequent audits confirmed remediation.
The Myria Bridge underwent specialized audit for custodial practices, multi-sig requirements, and emergency withdrawal mechanisms. Institutional-grade security confirmed, including distributed key management and time-locks.
Formal verification research continues with academic partners on proving properties of Cairo programs. Goal is mathematical proof of correctness for critical logic.
Bug bounty incentivizes security researchers. Reported vulnerabilities get fixed quickly.
Regulatory landscape
No protocol-level KYC or AML. That's not how blockchain works.
Gaming platforms implement self-regulatory mechanisms for minor protection, gambling regulations, responsible gaming. Age verification, spending controls, addiction resources—the platforms handle that themselves.
MYRIA classifies as utility, not security, across Singapore (home jurisdiction), Hong Kong, Switzerland. The token's use for governance and fees is clear enough.
Intellectual property frameworks protect developer code while enabling commercial game development. Copyright concerns get addressed through friendly licensing.
Regulatory compliance is ongoing. The foundation talks to authorities in key jurisdictions to stay ahead of changing rules.
Competing platforms
Direct competition: Immutable X (StarkEx-based), Polygon (general-purpose), Ronin (Axie's sidechain).
Versus Immutable X: Comparable security and throughput. Myria is more inclusive, Immutable X targets specific projects. Different strategies.
Versus Polygon: Myria has better gaming-specific optimizations, especially for NFTs. Polygon charges $0.01–$0.10 per transaction. Myria is free. That matters at scale.
Versus Ronin: More validator decentralization, broader stakeholder base, less dependent on a single game studio. Ronin is really just Axie's sidechain.
The field shifted in 2024-2025. Dedicated gaming chains emerged, Layer 2s improved. Myria's differentiation is real but narrower than at launch: it's the platform for serious gaming and NFT work.
The road ahead
Roadmap focuses on ecosystem expansion, optimization, and mainstream gaming integration.
Technical priorities: Cairo 2.0 for more expressive smart contracts, parallel proof generation to batch 100,000+ transactions, specialized hardware integration.
Gaming expansion targets AAA studios through developer programs and partnerships. Major investments in physics engines, graphics libraries, game development frameworks.
DeFi grows: Aave on mainnet, sophisticated volatility trading, asset hedging for gaming. Myria becomes gaming-plus-DeFi.
Cross-chain initiatives: More bridges, atomic swaps with other gaming chains, native multi-chain game experiences.
Decentralization by late 2026. Core team authority moves to governance structures. Token holders control protocol upgrades entirely.
References
- Lee, B., Trivedi, A., & Zebedee, L. (2020). "Myria: Zero-Knowledge Rollups for Gaming and NFTs." Myria Foundation Technical Papers.
- Ben-Sasson, E., et al. (2018). "STARK Proofs: Transparent and Post-Quantum Secure Computational Integrity." Technical Whitepaper.
- StarkWare Industries. "Cairo Smart Contract Language." Technical Documentation.
- Myria Developer Documentation. https://docs.myria.com. Accessed April 2026.
- Myria Block Explorer. https://explorer.myria.com. Accessed April 2026.
- Consensys Diligence. (2022). "Myria Cairo Smart Contracts Security Audit."
- OpenZeppelin. (2023). "Myria Bridge and Proof Verification Audit Report."
- StarkWare Security. "STARK Cryptographic Foundations." Research Publication.
- Ethereum Foundation. "Zero-Knowledge Proofs: A Primer." Educational Documentation.
- Vitalik Buterin. "Understanding STARK Proofs." Blog Post Series.
- Immutable Games. "Cairo Game Development Best Practices." Developer Guide.
- Myria Gaming Summit. "Annual Industry Report on Blockchain Gaming." 2025 Conference Proceedings.