Software developer-turned-entrepreneur Nischal Shetty launched Shardeum, his third startup, in February 2022. It will, he claims, be a direct competitor to the decentralised blockchain platform Ethereum. Shardeum is said to be the first linearly scalable layer one blockchain network that provides low gas fees forever while maintaining decentralisation and security. The announcement of the new startup came at a time when the global crypto market saw a major crash and the crypto exchanges in India were constantly seeing a dip in trading volumes, including Shetty’s WazirX.