Introduction

U2U Network began its journey in 2023, emerging from stealth amidst a highly competitive Layer-1 infrastructure market. U2U aimed to provide a scalable and decentralized solution for real-world applications, leveraging modular technology, a multi-sharding mechanism, and subnet technology.

Shortly after, U2U launched U2DPN, a decentralized private network leveraging subnet technology, transforming ordinary devices into contributor nodes to democratize internet access and enhance privacy.

By the time of writing in late 2024, U2U had launched major products, built strategic partnerships, and established itself as a pioneer in DePIN.

Funding Status

U2U Network announced its Seed Round funding on June 27, 2024, followed by a series of strategic investments. As of November 2024, U2U has raised $13.8 million.

The recently concluded funding rounds saw contributions from a slew of prestigious venture capital firms, including KuCoin Ventures, Chain Capital, IDG Blockchain, Cointelegraph, V3V, JDI Ventures, Waterdrip, Tesseract, IBG, Blockhive, Maxx Capital, UB Ventures, and many more.

U2U Network launched its DePIN Subnet Public Node Tier 1 Sale, which saw strong interest. The 1,000 Public Node Tier 1 slots sold out in just 5 hours, and over 13000 eager users were on the whitelist.

The U2U public sale on Fjord Foundry achieved an extraordinary milestone by successfully raising $500,000 in under 40 minutes.

Core Team

Source: u2u.xyz

The U2U Network founding team comprises experienced professionals in blockchain, technology, and business development.

Co-founder and CEO Luu Tran, an early contributor to many open-source projects, has over 13 years of experience building infrastructure, he also used to work at global tech giants Google and Salesforce.

Co-founder and Co-CEO Trang Phung was the former CEO of Bvnex.com, Vietnam’s first fiat-to-crypto exchange. She was appointed as Co-CEO in August 2024.

Co-Founder and COO Tran Anh, former CEO of Timebit OTC which is Vietnam’s largest OTC crypto marketplace.

Technology

The U2U Network combines Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) algorithms with the Inter-ledger Protocol (ILP) to create a platform for decentralized application development. It aims to deliver scalability, security, and interoperability.

The Helios Consensus is at the core of U2U’s blockchain infrastructure and is designed to provide scalability, security, and efficient consensus. Built on DAG technology, Helios addresses the scalability limitations of traditional blockchains. It leverages aBFT and DPoS to achieve efficient and secure consensus among network participants. The aBFT provides security against malicious actors, while DPoS elects trusted validators to improve transaction speed and scalability.

Its unique architecture, combining Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) technology with the Helios Consensus protocol, allows the network to achieve 17,000 TPS per shard (73,000 TPS with ideal testing environment) with a transaction finality time under 650 milliseconds.

Subnets: U2U Subnet is a set of peer-to-peer cryptography computers. It inherits the consensus and security layers of U2U Network. Subnet utilizes the U2VM, which is a high-speed graph reduction virtual machine designed to perform Subnet.

Source: docs.u2u.xyz

UMV is a powerful message protocol that enables the constant link between every U2U Subnet. The innovation of UMV lies in its ability to provide a reliable yet incredibly light way for U2U Subnets to communicate with each other and with their Layer-1. Unlike other scaling solutions that often involve heavy data handling and transmission which makes them very slow, UMV is made for communication of only trivial data size. As a result, U2U Subnet is lightning fast.

U2U Subnets are designed to meet specific industry needs, ensuring efficient and secure data handling for areas like IoT, cloud storage, and more.

A key advantage of U2U Subnets is their ability to operate independently from the mainnet. Even if the U2U Mainnet faces downtime, Subnets continue to run smoothly, ensuring uninterrupted service and improved reliability.

Transaction verification happens directly on Subnets, avoiding the delays seen in other scaling solutions. This speeds up transactions, improves efficiency, and enhances security by reducing points of failure and ensuring localized consensus.

Additionally, U2U allows users to create unlimited Subnets, enabling flexibility and innovation. Developers can test new ideas, build specialized applications, and explore different configurations to meet their unique needs.

U2U Ecosystem

U2U has grown a strong global community with over 1 million users, including 100,000 daily active users, across markets like Japan, Korea, Turkey, and Russia. Strategic partnerships with major industry players further boost its position.

Key launches in the U2U ecosystem include:

• X721 Marketplace: The first NFT marketplace on U2U with a launchpad.

• GroFi Dex: A concentrated liquidity market maker offering customizable fee tiers and yield opportunities.

U2U has integrated wallets like Holdstation Wallet and OKX Wallet, with Owlto as its official bridge.

In early 2024, U2U launched the U2U Super App, allowing users to interact with the ecosystem. Available on the App Store and Google Play, it quickly gained thousands of downloads.

U2U Network is recognized as a Layer 1 platform that meets the essential criteria for supporting the development of DePINs. In 2024, the network facilitated the growth of 37 DePINs across 10 different sectors.

The U2DPN is a mobile-based decentralized VPN built on the DPN Subnet, available on iOS and Android. Unlike traditional VPNs, U2DPN uses a distributed network powered by individual bandwidth sharers, making it more secure and resilient. Users can share unused internet bandwidth to earn rewards, while others connect through a flexible pay-as-you-go plan. U2DPN has served 113,000 sessions, 69,000+ GB of bandwidth, and supports over 1,500 active users.

Key projects in U2U’s DePIN ecosystem include:

• Ermis: A messaging app with APIs and SDKs for building real-time chat, video, and streaming features.
• LayerG: A gaming infrastructure platform providing tools for blockchain-based game development.
• Ultimate Digits: Transforms mobile numbers into crypto wallet addresses and offers Web3 virtual numbers as NFTs, compliant with the +999 country code.

U2U Foundation Grant Program

The U2U Foundation Grant Program is designed to support early-stage projects building on the U2U Network, aiming to expand its developer and user communities. By attracting top-tier infrastructure providers and engaging diverse industries, the program seeks to deepen interaction with U2U technology.

With a grant and investment pool of over $1,000,000, the program strongly incentivizes innovative projects to grow and succeed. All applications undergo rigorous evaluation by the U2U Council to ensure alignment with the network’s standards and goals.

For more details and to apply, visit the U2U Foundation Grant Program website.

Listing Information

The U2U Network has announced its official listing date on major cryptocurrency exchanges, scheduled for December 10, 2024. Listing platforms include KuCoin, Gate.io, MEXC, and BingX, with additional platforms to be disclosed in the near future. On January 8, 2025, U2U was listed on Bitget.

The U2U token offers a range of utilities designed to support the network’s ecosystem. These include its use for transaction fees, staking and network security, governance participation, incentives and rewards, DeFi collateral, decentralized application (DApp) functionality, and Subnet operations. This listing marks a significant step in U2U Network’s efforts to bring blockchain technology to real-world applications within the DePIN ecosystem.

U2U Network Achievements

• 13000 DePIN Subnet Node Tier 1 sold out
• 37+ DePIN Projects in our DePIN ecosystemPartner: Coinlist, Bitget Wallet, AWS, Klaytn, Wintermute, Messari, Cointelegraph, etc.
• Network users: 1,000,000+ total users, 600,000+ monthly active users
• More than 1,100,000 Mobile hardware have been connected and contributed in the network through DePIN Alliance Dapp
• U2DPN (U2U Network’s decentralized VPN product): over 68,000 GB of bandwidth and connected nearly 71,000 nodes in 170 countries
• Communities across top markets in the industry: China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia, and other European countries
• X: ~380,000 members with average engagement at 25%

Conclusion

U2U Network has attempted to distinguish itself in the Layer-1 blockchain landscape through its subnet technology designed specifically for DePIN. This architecture provides the scalability, customization, and security necessary to manage high transaction volumes and support diverse DePIN applications. With a strong leadership team and solid financial support, U2U has built a credible foundation for continued growth.

Looking ahead, U2U’s roadmap includes the launch of a Client Application Hub, incubation of new DePIN projects, SDK releases, and hardware distribution initiatives. These efforts are aimed at expanding the network and solidifying its role in the decentralized infrastructure space.