Harmony

What Harmony does

Harmony is an open, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain launched in June 2019 that uses data sharding (250 nodes per shard), Effective Proof-of-Stake (EPoS), and Fast BFT consensus with BLS aggregate signatures to deliver 2-second transaction finality at reportedly 100x lower fees than Ethereum. The protocol is built in Rust and ships SDKs in JavaScript, Go, and Python; its mainnet has produced over 41 million blocks and 772,000 transactions in the native ONE token since launch.

The company distributes a portfolio of decentralized products through self-serve web interfaces and open-source repositories, including Swap (a Uniswap v3 fork), Lend (Compound-like markets), the LayerZero Bridge and Horizon Bridge (cross-chain interoperability), the Gnosis Safe multi-sig product, Timeless Wallet, FlappyH1 (a Telegram tap-to-earn game), Voice AI (an iPhone app for pay-per-use ChatGPT-4 voice conversations), and .country domains for Web3 identity. Beyond the L1, Harmony operates zkDAO — a zero-knowledge proof initiative with six production products (rollups, stateless clients, private mixers including Tornado Cash, anonymous authentication, VDF-based randomness, and anti-collusion for quadratic funding) — and funds ecosystem development through a $300M commitment to back 100 DAOs (23 funded as of the last disclosed count), governed via Snapshot voting and Gnosis Safe multi-sig. The team is headquartered in Palo Alto with 11-50 employees.

Harmony's business model is unconventional for a software company: transaction fees on the chain are burned to offset token issuance, there are no disclosed enterprise SaaS pricing tiers, and the $300M figure represents ecosystem grants rather than corporate revenue. Revenue capture (beyond treasury management of the original $18M 2019 raise) is not publicly disclosed. Distribution is entirely community-led and open-source — via Discord (10,247 members), Substack (tens of thousands of subscribers), GitHub (1,450 stars on the core repo), and conference presence — with developer education via ZKU.one (400+ students). The user/customer base spans Web3 developers, DeFi users, ONE token stakers, ZK/privacy researchers, and AI/Crypto intersection builders, with no select enterprise customers disclosed.

Name

Harmony

Legal name

Harmony

Website

https://harmony.one

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Harmony is an open, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain (mainnet 2019) that uses data sharding and Fast BFT consensus to deliver 2-second finality at low fees, serving Web3 developers, DeFi users, ONE stakers, and ZK/AI builders through self-serve, community-driven distribution with no disclosed enterprise customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Layer 1 Blockchain Infrastructure

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage (5231), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Interoperability & Cross-Chain Infrastructure (Bridges, Messaging, Atomic Swaps) (FSAGAMAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cross-Chain Security & Verification (light clients, zk/optimistic proofs, validation networks) (FSAPAKAF), Cross-Chain Trading & Liquidity Routing (multi-chain swaps, bridge-integrated trading) (FSAPADAJ), Decentralized Lending Protocols (DeFi Money Markets) (FSADAFAB)

Keywords

• Layer 1 blockchain
• Decentralized finance
• Smart contract platform
• Cross-chain bridge
• Zero knowledge proofs

Headquarters

HQ city

Sunnyvale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Transaction Fees: All transaction fees on the Harmony network are burnt to offset token issuance. Under high network usage, this mechanism can lead to zero inflation, creating a deflationary pressure on the native ONE token supply. Revenue is generated through gas fees paid by users for transactions, smart contract execution, and cross-chain bridge operations.
2. Token Issuance (Staking Rewards): Harmony Economics Model caps annual issuance at 441 million ONE tokens (approximately 3% long-term inflation rate). Validators and delegators receive staking rewards. The issuance is partially offset by fee burning. Validators earn predictable returns based on their stake and performance (uptime, no double-signing).

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Harmony operates an open, sharded Layer 1 blockchain protocol with 2-second transaction finality and 100x lower fees than Ethereum. The platform delivers EVM-compatible DeFi primitives (Swap, Lend, LayerZero Bridge, Horizon Bridge), keyless self-sovereign wallets, a zero-knowledge proof initiative (zkDAO), .country Web3 domains, and a Voice AI iPhone application. Revenue is generated through gas fees paid in the native ONE token and ecosystem activity including cross-chain bridge transfers and DeFi operations.

Product overview

Harmony is an open blockchain platform with data sharding and fast finality, designed to scale trust and create a fair economy. The platform offers a comprehensive DeFi ecosystem including Swap (Uniswap v3 fork for token swaps), Lend (Compound-like borrow/supply markets), LayerZero Bridge and Horizon Bridge for cross-chain transfers, Keyless Smart Wallets and Timeless Wallet for custody, and FlappyH1 for GameFi. The ecosystem also encompasses Voice AI for conversational AI interactions, x.country domains for Web3 identity, zkDAO for zero-knowledge privacy solutions, and Social A(G)I combining AI agents with DeFi strategies. The platform supports hundreds of applications with 2-second transaction finality.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Timeless Wallet: Native mobile wallet with social experience
• Swap
• LayerZero Bridge
• Lend
• x.country
• FlappyH1
• zkDAO
• Voice AI

Products and services

• Harmony Blockchain Protocol An open, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain with data sharding, Effective Proof-of-Stake consensus, and Fast BFT with BLS signatures. Provides 2-second transaction finality and 100x lower fees than Ethereum, with 41M+ blocks and 772K+ transactions processed since mainnet launch in June 2019.
• Swap

Quantifiable outcome

• 2-second transaction finality vs. minutes on Ethereum
• +5 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability5 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Gnosis (Safe)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 September 2021Gnosis Safe multi-signature wallets are used across Harmony's 23 funded DAOs for shared treasury custody and control. Each DAO is set up with Gnosis Safe multi-sig and Snapshot voting for decentralized governance. Gnosis Multisig product (multisig.harmony.one) is also offered as a direct product on the Harmony platform.
• SnapshotcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 September 2021Snapshot is used for off-chain gasless voting across Harmony's 23 funded DAOs. Combined with Gnosis Safe multi-sig, it provides a complete DAO governance stack. All DAO proposals and governance decisions are executed through Snapshot.
• LayerZerocoreTechnology or IntegrationLayerZero integration enables secure cross-chain transfers and token bridging on Harmony. The LayerZero Bridge (bridge.harmony.one) provides interoperability with other LayerZero-connected blockchains. Harmony's bridge app is deployed on LayerZero infrastructure.
• CompoundcoreTechnology or IntegrationHarmony's Lend product is described as 'Compound-like borrow/supply markets.' The protocol is modeled on Compound's lending market design, adapted for the Harmony blockchain. This is a core DeFi primitive for the ecosystem.
• UniswapcoreTechnology or IntegrationHarmony's Swap product is a Uniswap v3 fork with capital-efficient liquidity pools. Deployed at swap.harmony.one, it brings automated market maker functionality to the Harmony DeFi ecosystem.
• Tornado CashcoreTechnology or IntegrationTornado Cash is live on Harmony as a cross-chain coin mixer. It represents the top use case for privacy products in the ecosystem with 35K users and $6M revenue. Demonstrates Harmony's capability to host established Ethereum DeFi protocols.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• NEAR Protocol: Sharded Layer 1 blockchain with EVM compatibility and 1-2 second finality. NEAR is the closest architectural peer to Harmony given its emphasis on sharding for horizontal scaling and developer-friendly onboarding.
• MultiversX (formerly Elrond): Sharded Layer 1 with adaptive state sharding, high throughput, and EVM compatibility via the Elrond/MultiversX mainnet. Directly comparable sharding-first design philosophy to Harmony.
• Fantom: EVM-compatible Layer 1 using aBFT consensus (Lachesis) for fast finality and low fees. Same high-performance, low-fee positioning as Harmony targeting DeFi developers migrating from Ethereum.
• Zilliqa: One of the earliest production sharded Layer 1 blockchains with EVM-compatible smart contracts. Direct technical peer to Harmony on sharding architecture and security model.
• Cosmos (via IBC): Interoperable blockchain ecosystem with Cosmos Hub, IBC messaging protocol, and app-chains via Cosmos SDK. Comparable interoperability narrative to Harmony's Horizon Bridge and LayerZero strategy.
• Polkadot: Multi-chain architecture using parachains connected to a central relay chain via XCM. Comparable cross-chain interoperability thesis to Harmony, with a different trust model.

Broad incumbents

• Avalanche: Layer 1 with subnet architecture enabling horizontal scaling and custom blockchains. Avalanche's subnet model is conceptually adjacent to Harmony's sharding and offers similar multi-chain interoperability.
• Polygon: Major Ethereum scaling ecosystem (PoS sidechain plus ZK rollups including Polygon Miden and zkEVM). Competes with Harmony on both EVM scaling and zero-knowledge tooling, with significantly more resources.
• Solana: High-throughput Layer 1 targeting low fees and fast finality. Competes with Harmony for the same developer mindshare on consumer and DeFi applications, though architecturally distinct (single-state vs sharded).

Emerging players

• Moonbeam: EVM-compatible parachain on Polkadot with cross-chain connectivity to Ethereum and other parachains. Similar EVM-on-cross-chain positioning to Harmony's Swap/Lend/Bridge product suite.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/harmonyprotocol
• GitHubgithub.com/harmony-one

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors11 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments4 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Harmony