Sei: From Gaming to Genomics
- Eon Capital
- Jul 22
- 4 min read
Sei Network Overview
Sei Network is a high-performance layer-1 blockchain, purpose-built for parallel transaction processing, enabling faster finality, lower fees, and better throughput. The recent Sei V2 upgrade introduced a “Parallelized EVM” mainnet that supports both CosmWasm and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts, giving developers flexibility to use Ethereum and Cosmos tooling.1
At the heart of Sei’s technology is its Twin-Turbo Consensus mechanism, delivering sub-second finality (typically ~400 milliseconds) and parallel processing for simultaneous transaction execution.1 This infrastructure provides developers with an optimized environment for DeFi, NFTs, and high transaction frequency. With transaction fees averaging less than $0.01 and optimized state verification, Sei addresses challenges like scalability and throughput bottlenecks, offering an execution layer attractive to an increasing number of users and projects.
Ecosystem Analysis
Sei Ecosystem Metrics
Recent activity on Sei paints a picture of growth and increasing user engagement. Since the launch of Sei V2 a year ago, the network has reached 311,900 daily active addresses across more than 200 dApps, with daily transactions skyrocketing 3,691% and Total Value Locked (TVL) jumping nearly 10-fold (surpassing $670m in June).3 The recent integration of native USDC and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) has fueled this upward trend, enhancing liquidity and AI-driven capabilities. Transaction volumes, including a notable $133 million in weekly DEX activity, point to a network gaining significant traction in the L1 landscape.
Daily Transactions on Sei Based on Sector
The key pockets of activity on Sei currently center around gaming. Gaming accounts for approximately 50% of transaction volume, including standout titles like World of Dypians, a multichain MMORPG with 104.5k active users and Archer Hunter, a mobile roguelike with 89.2k active users. DeFi has lagged in activity but has recently seen capital inflows into protocols like Yei Finance which hosts $389M in TVL with its non-custodial lending model and dynamic interest rates. Other notable DeFi applications include Takara Lend (a DEX with ~$100M in TVL) and Sailor (a DEX with ~$84M in TVL). These sectors demonstrate Sei’s ability to support high-frequency, real-time applications, with over $260 million in stablecoin TVL fueling its growing financial infrastructure, further boosted by a 59% increase in daily transactions to 630.9k.
Future of Sei
Sei's Sapien Capital DeSci Fund
While gaming currently dominates Sei’s onchain activity, the Sei Development Foundation’s roadmap and initiatives suggest a shift toward other areas such as DeSci (Decentralized Science), propelled by the $65 million Sapien Capital Open Science Fund I—the largest funding committed to DeSci to date.5 DeSci seeks to improve scientific research by harnessing blockchain technology and decentralized crowdsourcing. Sei is stepping up as a key enabler with its high-performance infrastructure and project incubation through Sapien. This includes facilitating cross-jurisdictional health data management (e.g. sharing medical or genomic data across borders securely) and AI-driven drug discovery networks, areas that promise to reshape healthcare.
A recent exploration by Sei shows the potential of decentralizing genomic data, addressing flaws in centralized Web2 models like 23andMe, which faced a 2023 data breach exposing 6.9 million users’ information and failed to fairly compensate individuals whose data generated hundreds of millions of dollars for third parties.6 By leveraging blockchain solutions such as onchain record-keeping with smart contracts for transparent consent, zero-knowledge proofs for privacy-preserving verification, and trusted execution environments (TEEs) for secure data analysis, Sei could power a cutting-edge genomic data marketplace.
This emerging sector could add significant TVL and attract institutional interest, with potential applications like onchain health data exchanges, where users control and monetize their genomic data, and launchpads for researchers to jumpstart drug discovery. In short, Sei is betting big on DeSci, aiming to provide the speed, throughput, and capital to support decentralized scientific innovation that could reshape industries like healthcare, scientific research, and genomics.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) Integration
Sei recently integrated Model Context Protocol (MCP), an Anthropic-developed standard that acts as a universal API, connecting AI agents to blockchain data and services on Sei.7 By overcoming past limitations like the need for custom code and lack of unified verification, MCP offers three key benefits: standardized access for real-time applications like portfolio management and transaction-executing chatbots, verifiable actions for transparent multi-agent systems, and multi-protocol operations for cross-chain trading strategies.
This update enables agents to query blockchain states—checking token balances, analyzing transaction histories, and executing transactions—while coordinating with other agents at machine speed.
Native USDC and Cross-Chain Liquidity
Another pivotal development is the launch of native USDC, a major infrastructure upgrade recently celebrated by the Sei Development Foundation. Native USDC marks the next phase of Sei’s progress into a cross-chain liquidity hub replacing the cumbersome USDC via Noble, which relied on IBC and lacked ERC-20 composability.3 With compatibility across 13 blockchains, Native USDC eliminates past inefficiencies like IBC latency, providing 1:1 capital efficiency and direct institutional on-ramps through Circle Mint. For developers building DeFi protocols, gaming economies, or payment rails, native USDC delivers a stable, frictionless foundation supporting Sei’s position as key infrastructure for onchain finance.
Final Thoughts
Following the rollout of Sei V2, the network has seen an increase in user activity and wallet growth, reflecting its growing appeal and adoption across diverse applications. While the network currently hosts gaming as the bulk of its transactions, Sei’s focus is steadily shifting toward DeSci and an enhanced DeFi hub, marking a shift to leverage its infrastructure to further differentiate itself. The introduction of initiatives like the $65 million Sapien Capital fund shows Sei’s ambition to lead in decentralized scientific research, potentially transforming healthcare and data management, while the rising interest in DeFi promises to deepen liquidity for new users and open cross-chain opportunities. We are excited to watch these developments unfold, unlocking new use cases, attracting institutions, and following Sei’s role as it matures within the growing digital asset ecosystem.
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Disclosure: This post is for informational purposes regarding the SEI blockchain only.