Shardeum, an autoscaling layer-1 blockchain, has announced the launch of Stage 1 of its incentivized testnet, Atomium, on June 26th, 2024. The purpose of Atomium is to incentivize users to test the network for bugs, vulnerabilities, and performance issues to fortify the network ahead of mainnet launch.

In Stage 1, Shardeum invites community members to test numerous P2P transactions, allowing the team to stress test the network and ensure all vulnerabilities are flagged and amended. Atomium participants are incentivized with 0.65% of token supply or approximately 3.3 million SHM allocated towards community contributions.

"We believe in community-led development and thanks to our amazing community we've been able to reach this stage. We're now ready to launch Stage 1 of the incentivized testnet," said Nischal Shetty, Co-Founder & President of Shardeum.

Following stages will include more rigorous testing of system capabilities to ensure the network can handle a wide array of activities seamlessly. Shardeum will also launch a bug bounty program on July 5th with a total bounty of USD $700k to further secure the network.

"This is an invitation for the community to be at the forefront of Shardeum's growth," added Omar Syed, co-founder of Shardeum. To join the incentivized testnet, users can visit https://shardeum.org/incentivized-testnet/[3].