Decoding Tanssi I: The Architecture Behind Decentralized Appchain Orchestration

Launching a new blockchain from scratch has historically been a complex dance: teams spend months recruiting validators, setting up nodes, writing custom node code, and stitching together tools. 

These timelines often exceed expectations, and alternatives like rollups and RaaS platforms still fall short: rollups centralize sequencing and rely on shared infrastructure, while most RaaS providers retain control over upgrades, validator logic, and monitoring. For many solutions, like real-world asset tokenization (RWAs), that level of centralization is a non-starter.

Tanssi eliminates that trade-off.

By combining a modular Substrate framework with Ethereum-aligned security, Tanssi collapses deployment timelines from months to minutes, without compromising decentralization, finality, or architectural control. Developers can launch their own dedicated appchains, backed by pooled security and automated orchestration, while retaining full governance and logic control. 

Think of it like a decentralized “WordPress for appchains”—except under the hood, it behaves more like Kubernetes for permissionless execution environments.

The Deployment Problem: Why Tanssi Exists

Infrastructure teams building real-world systems don’t just need a blockchain—they need sovereignty, custom logic, and predictable performance from the start. But most deployment paths today compromise on exactly those things.

Rollups are fast, but they centralize sequencing and rely on upstream governance for upgrades and protocol rules. Most use a single operator or privileged set of sequencers, limiting customizability and long-term independence. RaaS platforms abstract deployment, but often retain control over validator logic, upgrades, and monitoring. In both models, teams give up sovereignty at the infrastructure layer in exchange for speed and convenience.

That trade-off blocks critical use cases. For example, Real-world asset (RWA) platforms in particular need infrastructure that guarantees decentralization, auditability, and execution transparency—requirements that shared or vendor-controlled stacks can’t consistently meet. According to recent market data, tokenized RWAs reached over $15.2 billion in value in 2024, yet this growth has come despite, not because of, robust tooling. Many teams still face months-long deployment timelines and high infrastructure overhead just to get a chain live, especially when factoring in compliance, integrations, and operational dependencies.

Tanssi exists to eliminate this bottleneck. It enables developers to launch dedicated appchains—permissionless, customizable, and backed by Ethereum-aligned security—without needing to recruit validators, manage infrastructure, or compromise on control. From sequencing to staking to cross-chain messaging, the stack is automated, decentralized, and built for sovereignty from day one.

Graphic 1: Understand Tanssi Appchains

Overview of Tanssi's decentralized appchains highlighting permissionless customization, Ethereum-aligned security, and features like automated stack management and seamless operation.

From Testnet to Mainnet: How Tanssi Enables Trustless Appchain Infrastructure

Tanssi’s Mainnet will mark the shift from experimentation to production-grade, decentralized infrastructure. It introduces validator activation, delegated staking, decentralized sequencing—and finality in just 12–18 seconds. These capabilities are coordinated by the Tanssi orchestration chain, which assigns sequencers to appchains in rotating sessions and ensures seamless operation from day one.

At the heart of the orchestration layer is a permissionless pool of community-run sequencers. These operators are selected through delegated staking and rotate across appchains randomly in fixed sessions. The orchestration chain assigns and rotates sequencers automatically, enforcing liveness and decentralization from day one—no coordination overhead required. Individual appchain blocks are backed directly to the orchestration chain after consensus has been achieved with no ZK proofs, off-chain computation, or trust of any kind needed. 

Mainnet also introduces a trustless Ethereum bridge powered by Snowbridge, a fully decentralized, bi-directional messaging protocol. It uses light clients on both Ethereum and Tanssi, enabling secure asset transfers and data messages across chains without multisigs, off-chain relayers, or custodians. When you move tokens or data between Ethereum and a Tanssi-powered appchain, the proof is verified natively, just like a full node would. The result: cross-chain interactions inherit the same level of trust and finality as their originating chain.

Graphic 2: How does the Orchestration Layer work?

Inside the Orchestration Layer: Sequencer Assignment and Appchain Launch Flow

Together, these components deliver critical infrastructure as automated services:

• Validator activation and slashing are embedded at the protocol level.

• Sequencer orchestration is enforced by the chain, not off-chain governance.

• Ethereum connectivity is trust-minimized and production-ready.

This is what it looks like when base-layer infrastructure works by default, without compromising on decentralization or operational guarantees.

Graphic 3: Base-Layer Infrastructure

Diagram illustrating the components of an Automated Base-Layer Infrastructure, highlighting Validator Activation & Slashing, Sequencer Orchestration, and Ethereum Connectivity. The system emphasizes trust minimization, production readiness, and results in a decentralized, reliable, and coordination-free outcome.

The Substrate Stack: Modular, Upgradable, Multichain-Ready

Tanssi is built on Substrate for one reason: it’s the most flexible, production-tested framework for launching customizable blockchains.

Substrate provides a modular architecture built around pallets—composable runtime components for essential functions like governance, balances, staking, identity, and more. Developers can plug in what they need in one of the pre-made templates, modify what they don’t, or write their own logic from scratch.

Want to launch an EVM-compatible chain? Drop in the Frontier pallet. Need Wasm smart contracts or a native fee market? You can integrate them natively—no bridging layers or external orchestration needed.

How Substrate Powers Flexibility for Tanssi Appchains

Capability	What It Enables	Benefits for Tanssi-Powered Appchains
Modular Pallet System	Add or customize governance, tokens, consensus, treasury, and more	Tailor runtimes to match your protocol logic—no L1 overhead
EVM & Wasm Support	Integrate smart contract engines via existing pallets	Leverage familiar tooling or mix contract environments
Forkless Upgrades	Deploy logic changes via on-chain WebAssembly runtime upgrades	Ship improvements fast without downtime or hard forks
XCM Interoperability	Use Cross-Consensus Messaging to communicate across chains	Build natively multichain apps from day one
Runtime-Level Custom Logic	Modify transaction hooks, gas rules, state transition behavior	Design infrastructure aligned with your app’s needs
Low-Level Infra Abstracted	Substrate handles storage, networking, and consensus plumbing	Focus on business logic instead of node implementation
Pre-Built Templates	Start with ready-to-deploy EVM or Substrate runtimes	Cut launch time without giving up flexibility

Tanssi-Powered Appchains: Infrastructure Included

Tanssi-powered appchains get everything they need to run—out of the box. Much like a Docker container bundles an application and its environment, these chains plug into Tanssi’s orchestration layer and inherit a full production-grade stack: sequencing, data availability, endpoints, monitoring, and more.

Here’s what’s included:

Component	What It Does	Why It Matters
Shared Security as a service	Assigns both a diversified and permissionless validator set and economic security to those validators	Removes the necessity for teams to bootstrap and maintain their own validator set, along with having to attract economic security to those validators.
Sequencing-as-a-Service	Assigns block producers from a permissionless pool	Eliminates sequencer recruitment; enables decentralized execution from day one
Data Availability	Retains full historical data; supports node sync and state verification	Ensures long-term integrity and trustless access
Integrated Tooling	Provides RPCs, wallets, explorers, indexers, CLI dashboards	Chains are usable immediately by both developers and users
Isolated Resources	Runs each appchain in its own execution sandbox	Prevents noisy neighbor effects; supports scale and system stability

No DevOps overhead. No centralized provisioning. No validator bootstrapping.

Even early-stage teams without infrastructure resources can launch production-ready, decentralized appchains—live in minutes, built to scale.

Decentralized Sequencing: Ordering Transactions Without Central Control

Tanssi’s sequencing layer is decentralized by design. Unlike rollups and many RaaS platforms that rely on a single sequencer or centralized operator opt-in set, Tanssi rotates sequencing responsibilities across a permissionless pool of network nodes.

Each appchain is assigned a rotating subset of sequencers, selected randomly based on delegated staking. These assignments are managed by the orchestration chain and updated regularly in fixed-length sessions, ensuring predictable performance and fault tolerance from the start. Sequencer behavior is monitored continuously, with on-chain enforcement of rewards and slashing all in the native token. Good performance is incentivized, while downtime or misbehavior is penalized automatically.

Every appchain launched on Tanssi connects to this decentralized sequencing layer out of the box, so teams get sovereign transaction ordering and strong liveness guarantees without having to build or manage it themselves.

Graphic 4: Tanssi Sequencing Layer

Diagram illustrating the Tanssi Sequencing Layer, highlighting its operation through delegated staking, rotating sequencers, and on-chain monitoring. Benefits include no single point of failure, no central control, censorship resistance, sovereign transaction ordering, and strong liveness guarantees.

Launching an Appchain: The Onboarding Process

Now that we’ve explored Tanssi’s infrastructure, here’s how developers actually bring a new appchain online.

Tanssi is designed for permissionless appchain launches, but mainnet onboarding will start progressively, prioritizing teams that have been actively building on the testnet and are preparing to deploy production-grade systems. This phased rollout ensures infrastructure stability while supporting builders aligned with the network’s long-term vision.

Here’s how the process works:

1. Choose a Chain Template: Start with a prebuilt EVM or Substrate-based chain, or upload a custom configuration.

2. Configure Chain Parameters: Define the appchain’s identity and behavior: set the chain name, token units, block time, governance tracks, and more.

3. Reserve an Appchain ID: Submit a transaction on the orchestration chain to register your chain in the network.

4. Trigger Genesis: Once ready, launch your chain. Tanssi automatically assigns sequencers, connects infrastructure, and starts block production.

From that moment, the chain is live, connected to data availability, sequencing, monitoring, and RPCs. Contracts, governance modules, and user onboarding can begin immediately.

Graphic 5: Appchain Launch Process

Flowchart illustrating the Appchain Launch Process, highlighting steps from choosing a chain template to triggering genesis, and leading into the life chain phase with connected infrastructure and deployment readiness.

This process removes the bottlenecks that typically block early-stage teams. Whether you’re running a high-throughput coordination protocol or piloting a compliant RWA platform, Tanssi lets you start in minutes, with infrastructure that’s built for scale.

This entire onboarding flow is available on the Tanssi Testnet. Developers can deploy an appchain, configure parameters, and test orchestration mechanics at apps.tanssi.network (no validator setup required).

Shared Security: One Pool, All Chains

Security in Tanssi is pooled across the entire network. Rather than requiring each appchain to recruit its own validator set, all chains tap into a shared staking mechanism coordinated by the orchestration layer.

At the core of this system is the $TANSSI token. Delegators stake to operators, who in turn run validators that secure one or more appchains. Staking outcomes are directly tied to operator reliability—rewards are earned for uptime and correct behavior, while downtime or faults trigger slashing.

Graphic 6: Shared Security Model

Flowchart illustrating a Shared Security Model, where delegators stake $Tanssi tokens, enabling operators to receive stakes and run validators that secure appchains. Good behavior earns rewards, while downtime or faults result in a slashing event.

Tanssi’s shared security will launch with ETH as the initial asset securing the orchestration chain, with $TANSSI added shortly after. Over time, support for additional assets can be introduced to further strengthen protocol security.

Each operator account manages four staking pools:

• Joining Pool – Where new delegations are held before activation

• Active Pools – Support either manual reward claiming or auto-compounding

• Leaving Pool – Where unbonding tokens wait out the withdrawal period

This structure enables dynamic participation and smooth transitions between staking states—without disrupting chain-level performance.

The shared pool approach ensures that all Tanssi-powered appchains inherit credible, economic-grade security from launch, with no separate validator bootstrapping required. It also gives $TANSSI holders a direct role in maintaining appchains integrity, incentivizing both decentralization and performance.

Graphic 7: Ensured Security for Apchains

Flowchart illustrating the staking process of $TANSSI tokens, detailing the transition through joining, active, and leaving pools, ensuring security for Appchains.

Conclusion: Infrastructure That Just Works

Tanssi is built to remove the bottlenecks that keep infrastructure teams from shipping. Validator orchestration, sequencing, staking, monitoring, and tooling are all automated, without sacrificing decentralization, speed, or customizability.

Graphic 8: Blockchain Launching Got Better with Tanssi

Streamlining Blockchain Deployment: Tanssi's solution simplifies the traditional blockchain launch, leading to dedicated appchains, pooled security, full control, and automated orchestration.

Finality in 12–18 seconds. Dedicated appchains with full runtime control. Ethereum-backed trust guarantees. All connected through a decentralized orchestration layer that functions like Kubernetes for blockchains—assigning sequencers, monitoring health, and coordinating uptime.

Graphic 9: Tanssi's Decentralised Infrastructure Hub

Overview of Tanssi's Decentralized Infrastructure Hub, highlighting features such as automated validator orchestration, decentralized sequencing, shared permissionless staking, on-chain health monitoring, tooling support, fast finality, and Ethereum-backed trust guarantees.

But unlike many “fast-track” deployment platforms, Tanssi doesn’t ask developers to compromise on sovereignty. There’s no shared sequencer, no opaque upgrade paths, no separate finality for orchestration chain, no optimistic assumptions with fisherman, no zk hacks and specialised hardware proofers, and no hidden operator logic. Builders retain execution control while benefiting from automated infrastructure and pooled security.

For protocol engineers, RWA teams, and any project that needs its infrastructure to hold up in production: Tanssi provides a launch path that’s fast, credible, and aligned with how real systems scale.

In 2025, if you’re ready to move fast—and own your stack—Tanssi’s message is simple: it’s time to dance.

Developers can explore it now.

Tanssi’s Testnet mirrors the full orchestration flow planned for Mainnet—sequencing, staking, tooling, and governance included. Appchains can be launched, configured, and tested end-to-end at apps.tanssi.network, ahead of full Mainnet onboarding.