Radix Labs is the research and development arm of the Radix Foundation, dedicated to advancing distributed ledger technology with a particular focus on scalability solutions.
Overview
Radix Labs works closely with corporations and institutions to develop solutions that shape the future of distributed systems and decentralized finance. A key focus of their research has been the development of consensus mechanisms that can support high transaction throughput while preserving atomic composability - a critical feature for decentralized financial applications.
Under the leadership of Dan Hughes, Radix Labs has demonstrated breakthrough performance metrics, achieving up to 3.2 million transactions per second in their Hyperscale platform testing. This represents a significant advancement compared to other distributed ledger technologies, with their testing showing performance approximately 20 times greater than competing platforms.
The lab's research focuses on solving fundamental blockchain scalability challenges through innovations like Cassandra, Cerberus, and the Radix Engine. Their approach combines aspects of traditional Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) protocols with novel consensus mechanisms, aiming to achieve unlimited linear scalability while maintaining network security and decentralization.
A distinguishing aspect of Radix Labs' work is their commitment to academic rigor and transparency. Their consensus theory and atomic cross-shard consensus mechanisms have been peer-reviewed and mathematically verified by researchers at the University of California, Davis, establishing a strong theoretical foundation for their technological implementations.
History
The origins of Radix Labs' research can be traced back to 2012, when initial investigations into blockchain scalability began with a modified Bitcoin fork. These early experiments aimed to discover realistic upper bounds for transaction processing, achieving approximately 1,000 transactions per second (TPS) through various optimizations and improvements.
In 2013, the team developed the concept of "Block Trees," introducing a tree structure of blockchains that enabled concurrent transaction processing with delayed state reconciliation. This innovation pushed performance to around 2,000 TPS. By 2014, research had progressed to implementing Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs), which facilitated easier sharding and reduced messaging overhead, reaching approximately 2,500 TPS.
A significant breakthrough came in 2017 with the development of CAST (Cooperative Audit State Transfer), which separated state and transactional data. This architectural change improved the management of messaging overhead and enhanced security against double-spend attacks, though it temporarily reduced maximum throughput to maintain these security properties.
2020 marked a pivotal year with two major developments. First, the introduction of Tempo completely reimagined state representation and sharding design, dramatically reducing processing and reconciliation overhead to achieve 1.4 million TPS. Later that year, the development of Cerberus began, introducing a complementary consensus mechanism that enabled secure cross-shard communication while preserving network properties.
The network saw its first practical implementation in 2022 with the Olympia launch, which utilized a hybrid consensus mechanism combining Hotstuff and Cerberus. This was followed by the Babylon release in 2023, which introduced secure and efficient decentralized applications (dApps) through the Scrypto programming language, along with an integrated user experience.
As of 2024-2025, Radix Labs has entered the Hyperscale Alpha phase, conducting groundbreaking tests targeting sustained performance of over 1 million complex transactions per second using a globally distributed validator network. This research network, formerly known as Cassandra, represents a crucial step toward achieving unlimited linear scalability while maintaining atomic composability and decentralization.
Technology
Hyperscale Architecture
Radix Labs' Hyperscale architecture represents a breakthrough in distributed ledger technology, combining a hybrid consensus mechanism that integrates both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake systems. The architecture is built on two primary components: the Cassandra consensus protocol for intra-shard consensus and the Cerberus protocol for cross-shard communication.
The Cassandra consensus protocol manages consensus within individual shards, ensuring progress even during adverse network conditions while providing strong safety guarantees when operating below its failure bound. This protocol innovates on traditional Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) systems by incorporating elements of Nakamoto consensus, allowing for both weak liveness and deterministic safety.
A unique feature of the architecture is its implementation of cryptographic sortition, which enables efficient validator selection while maintaining decentralization. The system selects primary and secondary proposers through a verifiable random function, with the number of primary proposers calculated as the square root of the total participant count.
Key Features
The Hyperscale architecture achieves unprecedented performance metrics, demonstrating capacity for up to 3.2 million transactions per second, significantly outperforming other distributed ledger platforms. This performance is achieved while maintaining atomic composability across shards, a critical feature for complex decentralized financial applications.
The system's hybrid consensus mechanism provides several key advantages:
- Enhanced security through a dual sybil resistance model requiring control of both computational power and stake for successful attacks
- Flexible participation options allowing validators to contribute through either mining or staking
- Built-in protection against "nothing at stake" problems through proof-of-work requirements
- Improved double-spend protection through the combination of stake-based voting and computational work
The architecture employs a sophisticated approach to network coordination, using explicit voting and side-channel communication for efficient consensus building. Quorum certificates provide cryptographic proof of validator agreement, while a two-phase commit process ensures strong safety guarantees without compromising system liveness.
A notable innovation is the system's ability to maintain atomic composability at scale, allowing complex, multi-step transactions to execute as single, instant operations across different shards. This capability is particularly crucial for decentralized finance applications, where multiple actions often need to be executed atomically to maintain transaction integrity.
Development Roadmap
Current Phase (2024-2025)
The Hyperscale Alpha testing phase represents a crucial milestone in Radix Labs' development. During this period, the network aims to demonstrate sustained performance of over 1 million complex transactions per second using a globally distributed validator set. Unlike typical blockchain performance tests, this phase emphasizes real-world conditions with all security features enabled and validators distributed across multiple continents.
The Cassandra research network serves as a testing platform through most of 2025, supporting critical development work including:
- Community-scale testing initiatives in December 2024
- Additional third-party testing throughout H1 2025
- Integration of the Radix Engine by Q3 2025
- Comprehensive community testing of the combined Cassandra and Radix Engine systems in Q4 2025
The Radix Engine enhancement track runs parallel to Cassandra development, with key milestones including:
- Planning of sharding upgrade architecture in Q4 2024
- Implementation of sharding capabilities by Q3 2025
- Soft audit of the sharded system in Q4 2025
Future Development (2025-2027)
The final development phase focuses on implementing Xian, the production-ready network that will bring Radix's scalability vision to fruition. This phase includes:
- Production planning beginning in Q4 2025
- Full Rust implementation throughout 2026, encompassing:
- Network infrastructure development
- Database architecture
- Cryptographic systems
- Integration of Cassandra consensus
- Implementation of the sharded Radix Engine
The roadmap culminates in three major releases:
- Alpha Xian in early 2027
- Beta Xian in mid-2027
- Full production launch in the second half of 2027
This timeline represents a methodical approach to achieving Radix's vision of a globally scalable distributed ledger system capable of supporting billions of users while maintaining atomic composability and decentralization.