Altcoin Spotlight: What is SEI?

Here at MintDice.com, we are committed to your cryptocurrency education. As such, we started our altcoin spotlight program, which is a profile on any cryptocurrency that breaks the top 50 rankings on coinmarketcap.com.

This week, a new altcoin, SEI, broke the top 50 and currently sits at position 49. But like many others, you probably don’t know anything about this currency just yet—so grab a snack and sit back as we dive into the details of this unique cryptocurrency project.

What is Sei?

Sei is a layer-one blockchain solution invented to speed up processing rates in the decentralized crypto market. Decentralized exchanges, NFT marketplaces, and Web3 games can all employ Sei as a tool to speed up the processing of their blockchains. Currently, Sei boasts a transaction speed of 12,500 transactions per second.

The Sei blockchain processes transactions in its native cryptocurrency, SEI, which is currently being traded on multiple platforms. SEI is a governance and utility token, and those who hold it can participate in making decisions about the future of the blockchain or use it to pay for transactions on the blockchain.

SEI plans to issue 10 billion tokens in total. However, not all of them have been released yet, and there is a planned release schedule going forward. The team will also retain some tokens in reserve to ensure the smooth operation of the blockchain in the future, and fund planned upgrades as needed.

The first version of the Sei blockchain released in 2023 wasn’t compatible with EVM, but the second version, launching in 2024, is, meaning the use of the blockchain is expected to skyrocket in the coming months as interoperability increases.

Related: Altcoin Spotlight: Kaspa (KAS)

How Does Sei Work?

Sei leverages the capabilities of the Cosmos SDK framework and IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) protocols to exchange tokens and data at lightning speeds. Basically, it takes the place of off-chain order books used by centralized exchanges to maintain platform speed, offering the same solution in a decentralized format.

Sei is an order book infrastructure that can be used to match orders for quicker processing. It uses a customer consensus mechanism, called Twin-Turbo, which further boosts its speed. It can also process transactions in parallel, even further increasing its use and applicability for all sorts of decentralized platforms.

Additionally, Sei hosts additional features to stop frontrunning, a tactic that some malicious actors use to slow the trades of others on centralized marketplaces. Instead of allowing front runners to sneak in trades, Sei employs frequent batch auctioning to prevent the jumping of trades in queues. This makes Sei an excellent equalizer in the trading world while also prioritizing speed for all users.

What is Twin-Turbo Consensus?

Twin-Turbo consensus is an expansion of Cosmo’s Tendermint consensus mechanism. Tendermint uses a single-slot finality measure to provide fast transaction processing in just 6 seconds per block.

Twin-Turbo expanded on this idea, but rather than 6 seconds per block, they reduced the time per block to just 380 milliseconds by simplifying the block propagation stage, making transaction processing nearly instantaneous. They did this by allowing blocks on the Sei network to transmit compressed proposals of just transaction hashes, rather than needing to send all the details of the transaction in order to process.

Related: Bitcoin Scalability Issues: Addressing the Challenges for the Future

Who Invented Sei?

Sei was invented in 2021 by Jeffery Feng and Jayendra Jog and built on top of the cosmos blockchain for initial launch in 2023. After solidifying their idea, Feng and Jog sought out venture capital backing and as a result began development with over $120 million USD in the bank.

Feng has a background in finance, previously working at both Goldman Sachs and Coatue Management, while Jeng has a background in software development, previously applying her talents for the popular trading app Robinhood.

Should You Buy SEI?

SEI is the token behind the Sei platform, and it is currently for sale on several marketplaces. There have also been a few airdrop events where individuals have received the Sei token. Unfortunately for the creators, not all of these airdrop events were well organized, and as such, some individuals mistakenly labeled them as scams, ruining what should have been a smooth launch for the token.

That being said, several large companies are invested in Sei, most notably Coinbase, Multicoin Capital, Jump Crypto, and Delphi Digital.

As such, we don’t really have an answer for you as to whether or not you should invest in Sei. On one hand, it is an untested cryptocurrency blockchain that, while showing promise, has yet to come to full fruition. On the other hand, it is a project that fills a current need in the DeFi world with several large and well-trusted backers.

So, our answer to this question is that SEI might be a good investment, but in our mind it is still a largely risky one. Remember that the firms mentioned above have money to lose, so if you do too, you may want to consider an investment in Sei. But don’t invest any money you aren’t willing to live without.

But, if you believe in the use and future of SEI, it isn’t the worst altcoin on the market to invest in.

Where Can You Buy SEI?

There are several platforms currently selling SEI. It is always easiest to purchase the cryptocurrency from a platform where you already have an account, but you can also consider opening an account on one of these platforms prior to making your purchase.

·      Coinbase

·      Kraken

·      KuCoin

·      Binance

·      CoinEx

·      Bybit

·      Gate.io

·      MEXC

SEI may also be available on decentralized exchanges via peer-to-peer trades.

Overall, the Sei blockchain was invented to fill a need in the decentralized cryptocurrency markets, and while it has a potentially bright future, it is still a relatively new project. As such, while we believe SEI isn’t the worst investment, it likely isn’t the best either. But, if you truly believe in the future of the project, an investment in SEI may be for you.

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