What is Radix (XRD)?

By CMC AI
28 January 2026 11:30PM (UTC+0)

TLDR

Radix (XRD) is the native token of the Radix Protocol, a full-stack Layer 1 blockchain engineered from the ground up to make decentralized finance (DeFi) secure, scalable, and accessible for mainstream users and developers.

  1. DeFi-Optimized Foundation – Built specifically to solve DeFi's core problems of security, scalability, and poor user experience.

  2. Integrated Tech Stack – Features a custom asset-oriented programming language (Scrypto) and execution engine designed for safety and developer speed.

  3. User-First Experience – Aims for mainstream adoption with a wallet that provides human-readable transactions and guarantees.

Deep Dive

1. Purpose & Value Proposition

Radix was created to build a scalable and secure foundation for global decentralized finance. It addresses common pain points in DeFi: smart contract vulnerabilities, confusing user interfaces, scaling limitations, and difficult development. Its goal is to enable a future where DeFi is usable by everyone, not just crypto-natives, by ensuring assets and transactions are secure and understandable by design.

2. Technology & Architecture

At its core is the Radix Engine, a deterministic execution environment where digital assets are treated as native, first-class objects—not just entries in a contract's ledger. This is paired with Scrypto, an asset-oriented programming language based on Rust. This architecture makes entire classes of common exploits, like reentrancy attacks, impossible by design. The network uses Cerberus consensus, a sharded protocol designed for linear scalability without fragmenting liquidity or breaking atomic composability between dApps.

3. Ecosystem & User Experience

The ecosystem is accessed through the Radix Wallet, which offers features like human-readable transaction previews and passkey logins for a Web2-like experience. The network supports a growing DeFi ecosystem of DEXs, lending protocols, and NFT platforms. To drive sustainable growth, Radix launched Radix Rewards, a 1 billion XRD incentive program that rewards genuine on-chain participation (trading, lending, providing liquidity) rather than passive holding.

Conclusion

Fundamentally, Radix is a coherently designed Layer 1 that rethinks blockchain architecture to prioritize DeFi security, developer productivity, and end-user clarity above all else. Will its integrated, asset-native approach prove to be the key to unlocking DeFi for the next billion users?

CMC AI can make mistakes. Not financial advice.