Monad: High-Performance EVM-Compatible Blockchain Platform

Hello friends! Today I want to talk to you about a new project that’s been getting a lot of attention in the blockchain world recently, called Monad. You might not be very familiar with the term blockchain yet, but that’s okay—I’ll try to explain it in the simplest, most vivid way possible, like telling a story. Just remember, I’m only a research analyst sharing knowledge—this is not investment advice!

What is Monad

Imagine the internet we use now is like a busy highway, with cars (that is, data and information) passing by one after another. Blockchain, you can think of as a special, open and transparent ledger system, where every transaction is recorded in blocks, and these blocks are linked together like a chain—hence the name “blockchain.” Ethereum is currently the most popular “blockchain highway,” running all kinds of decentralized applications (dApps), such as decentralized finance (DeFi) apps, NFT marketplaces, and more. But this highway is getting a bit congested—slow speeds and high tolls (Gas fees).

Monad, on the other hand, is like a brand new, super-wide, lightning-fast “highway” in the blockchain world. Its goal is to solve the bottlenecks of speed and efficiency in existing blockchains, especially Ethereum. Monad itself is an independent “Layer 1 blockchain,” which means it doesn’t rely on other blockchains to operate—it has its own infrastructure.

Simply put, Monad aims to:

• Blazing fast speed: It can process up to 10,000 transactions per second, which is hundreds or even thousands of times faster than Ethereum’s current speed.


• Negligible fees: Transaction fees are close to zero, making it much more convenient for users without worrying about high “tolls.”


• Strong compatibility: Most impressively, it’s fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). It’s like the cars you drove on the Ethereum highway can drive directly onto Monad’s new highway without any modifications. For developers, this means they can easily migrate existing Ethereum apps to Monad, saving a lot of hassle.

Currently, Monad is still in the testing phase—their testnet launched in February 2025, and the mainnet is expected to go live at the end of 2025.

Project Vision and Value Proposition

Monad’s vision is very ambitious—it hopes to greatly improve blockchain performance without sacrificing decentralization (not being controlled by a few) and security (not easily attacked).

The core problems they want to solve are:

• The “blockchain trilemma”: Traditional blockchains struggle to achieve decentralization, security, and high efficiency all at once. Monad wants to break this limitation, offering a blockchain that is decentralized, secure, and extremely fast.


• Limitations of existing blockchains: Blockchains like Ethereum are great, but due to speed and fee issues, many applications that require high-frequency operations (such as complex financial transactions or large-scale games) can’t run smoothly on them. Monad aims to provide the infrastructure to support these complex applications.

Monad’s value proposition is that, through technological innovation, it enables blockchain technology to be more widely adopted, lowers the barriers for ordinary users and developers, and thus drives the growth of the entire crypto ecosystem.

Technical Features

The reason Monad can achieve such high performance is thanks to a series of ingenious technical innovations behind it. You can think of these technical features as the unique design and construction techniques of Monad’s “super highway”:

MonadBFT Consensus Mechanism

Consensus mechanism is like the rules everyone in the blockchain world uses to reach agreement. For example, whether a transaction is valid needs to be confirmed by everyone. Monad uses a consensus mechanism called MonadBFT, which is evolved from a highly efficient protocol called HotStuff.

The strengths of this mechanism are:

• Fast confirmation: It can achieve 1-second block times, and once a transaction is included in a block, it’s almost final (single-slot finality), meaning your transaction gets confirmed very quickly without long waits.


• Separation of consensus and execution: MonadBFT has another important feature—it separates “everyone agreeing on the order of transactions” (consensus) from “actually executing those transactions” (execution). It’s like a team where some people quickly decide the priority and order of tasks, while others efficiently complete those tasks—both can work in parallel, greatly improving efficiency.

Parallel Execution

Traditional blockchains like Ethereum process transactions “serially,” like a supermarket with only one checkout counter—customers have to pay one after another. This is very inefficient.

Monad introduces the concept of parallel execution, like opening several checkout counters in the supermarket so multiple customers can pay at the same time. Monad intelligently identifies transactions that don’t affect each other and processes them simultaneously. If it finds two transactions might conflict (e.g., both want to change the same account balance), it will adjust to ensure the final result is correct. This “optimistic parallel execution” greatly boosts transaction throughput.

Asynchronous Execution / Delayed Execution

This technology complements the idea of separating consensus and execution. It means Monad can execute transactions asynchronously after nodes reach consensus on their order. This way, the consensus process doesn’t have to wait for transaction execution to finish, reducing latency and improving overall network efficiency.

MonadDb

Monad has also developed a dedicated database system called MonadDb. Like a library with well-designed shelves, allowing librarians to find and manage books faster, MonadDb is designed for efficient storage and management of blockchain data, ensuring fast data access and supporting parallel reads.

Local Mempool

In many blockchains, all pending transactions queue up in a “global waiting area” (global mempool). Monad changes this—each validator (think of them as bookkeepers) has their own “local waiting area” (local mempool), and transactions are sent directly to the next few validators responsible for packaging blocks. It’s like a courier company no longer piles all packages in one big warehouse, but distributes them directly to couriers in different regions, speeding up delivery and reducing unnecessary handling.

EVM Compatibility

As mentioned earlier, Monad is fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This means smart contracts (think of them as self-executing programs) running on Ethereum can run directly on Monad without code changes. For developers, they can use familiar tools like MetaMask wallet to interact with the Monad network.

Low Hardware Requirements

To ensure network decentralization, Monad is designed so that ordinary users can run nodes (help maintain the network), so its hardware requirements are relatively low—just 32GB RAM, two 2TB SSDs, and a 16-core processor. This helps prevent the network from being controlled by a few entities with expensive equipment.

Tokenomics

Every blockchain project usually has its own native token, and Monad is no exception. Its token symbol is MON.

• Total supply: Monad’s total token supply is fixed at 100 billion MON.


• Issuance mechanism and use: Currently, detailed tokenomics information about MON’s allocation, unlocking schedule, etc., has not been fully disclosed. However, the team has hinted at an airdrop—meaning some tokens will be distributed for free to early supporters and community members.


• Inflation/Burn: Similar to Ethereum’s EIP-1559 upgrade, Monad’s base transaction fees (Gas fees) will be burned, meaning some tokens will be permanently removed from circulation, helping maintain token scarcity.

Since detailed tokenomics have not yet been fully revealed, more information may be announced in the future—keep an eye on official channels.

Team, Governance, and Funding

Team

Monad’s core team is made up of experienced professionals:

• Keone Hon: Chief Executive Officer (CEO).


• James Hunsaker: Co-founder.


• Eunice Giarta: Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Notably, Keone Hon and James Hunsaker worked for eight years at the well-known quantitative trading firm Jump Trading, focusing on high-frequency trading systems. Eunice Giarta has experience in trading at BofA Merrill Lynch and product leadership at companies like Shutterstock. This background gives the team a unique edge in building high-performance systems.

Governance

The growth and development of the Monad project is driven by the Monad Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to supporting developers, promoting ecosystem growth, and gradually decentralizing the protocol. In the future, the project plans to introduce decentralized governance, allowing token holders to participate in decision-making.

Funding

Monad has received strong backing from well-known investment institutions, showing the market’s confidence in their technology and potential:

• Seed round: In February 2023, Monad completed a $19 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital.


• Series A: In April 2024, Monad raised another huge round—$225 million in Series A funding led by Paradigm, with a company valuation of $3 billion.

As of now, Monad Labs has raised a total of about $244 million.

Roadmap

Monad’s development roadmap clearly shows its key milestones from founding to mainnet launch:

• February 2022: Monad Labs founded.


• February 2023: Completed $19 million seed round.


• September 2023: Released Monad architecture documentation, detailing its blockchain design for the first time.


• April 2024: Completed $225 million Series A funding.


• February 2025: Public testnet launched for developers and users to try out.


• October 14, 2025: Airdrop claim portal opens.


• End of 2025 (official timeline) / September 29/30, 2025 (community speculation): Mainnet expected to launch.


• 2025 and beyond: Ecosystem will continue to expand, attracting more developers and applications.

Common Risk Reminders

Any emerging blockchain project comes with certain risks, and Monad is no exception. When learning about a project, we must remain objective and cautious:

Technical and Security Risks

• New technology risk: Monad uses many innovative technologies, such as parallel and asynchronous execution. While these aim to improve performance, any new technology may have unknown bugs or flaws.


• Smart contract risk: Although Monad is EVM-compatible, the smart contracts of dApps deployed on it may have security vulnerabilities, potentially leading to user asset losses.


• Network attack risk: Any blockchain network may face various attacks, such as 51% attacks (if a few entities control most of the network’s computing power or staked tokens). Although MonadBFT aims to enhance security, risks still exist.

Economic Risks

• Market volatility: The crypto market is known for its wild swings. The price of MON tokens may fluctuate sharply due to market sentiment, macroeconomic factors, and project progress.


• Tokenomics uncertainty: Although the total supply is announced, details on token allocation and unlocking schedules are not fully disclosed. These details may significantly affect the long-term value of the token.


• Competition risk: The blockchain space is highly competitive—Monad faces competition from other high-performance Layer 1 blockchains (like Solana, Aptos) and Ethereum Layer 2 solutions.


• Airdrop performance: History shows that after some new projects’ token generation events (TGE) and airdrops, token prices may drop sharply.

Compliance and Operational Risks

• Regulatory uncertainty: Global crypto regulations are still evolving, and future changes may affect Monad’s operations and the legality of its tokens.


• Centralization risk: Although the project aims for decentralization, in the early stages, the team and a few entities may have significant influence.

Due Diligence Checklist

For any blockchain project, if you want to dig deeper, here are some important points to verify:

• Block explorer contract address: Since the mainnet isn’t live yet, there’s no official MON token contract address. When the mainnet launches, check official sources.


• GitHub activity: Monad Labs has open-source repositories on GitHub, such as monad-bft and monad-execution, written in C++ and Rust under the GPL-3.0 license. Check update frequency, contributor count, and code quality to gauge development progress and community involvement.


• Official website: monad.xyz


• Social media (X/Twitter): Follow the official X account for the latest announcements and community updates.


• Documentation: Review the official developer docs for technical details and development guides.


• Audit reports: Watch for security audit reports on smart contracts and core protocols—these are crucial for assessing project safety.

Project Summary

In summary, Monad is an ambitious Layer 1 blockchain project aiming to solve existing blockchain performance bottlenecks through a series of innovations like MonadBFT consensus, parallel execution, and asynchronous execution, while maintaining Ethereum compatibility. The strong team background and massive funding provide a solid foundation for its development.

If Monad can successfully realize its technical vision, it could offer an unprecedented high-performance platform for decentralized applications, driving blockchain technology into broader use. However, as a new project, it also faces challenges in technical implementation, market competition, and regulation.

For anyone interested in Monad, I strongly recommend you do your own research (DYOR), follow official project updates, and fully understand the potential risks. The blockchain world is full of opportunities, but also risks—please be cautious and never invest blindly.