You’ve probably heard about the Monad blockchain by now.
Basically, it's a platform that takes the technological design of the Ethereum blockchain and optimizes it for fast and reliable transaction processing, making it attractive for enterprise-level applications and financial services.
In this guide, we'll explore Monad’s origin story and dive into its tech to highlight everything you need to know.
Let’s get right to it!
Monad origin story
Monad Labs was founded by Keone Hon, James Hunsaker, and Eunice Giarta in 2022.
Before diving into the world of blockchain, both Keone and James spent eight years at Jump Trading. Here, Keone led a high-frequency trading (HFT) team, and James built an ultra-low-latency trading system responsible for tens of billions of notional daily volume in major futures markets. Eunice was previously in trading at BofA Merrill Lynch, and led product teams building enterprise trading systems at Broadway Technology, and payments and licensing at Shutterstock.
The trio founded Monad Labs after realizing that it’s possible to implement a series of fundamental optimizations for Ethereum in general, and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in particular. These optimizations aimed to help the Ethereum ecosystem overcome the challenges it faced since its inception: modest throughput, high gas fees, and limited scalability.
To solve for these limitations, Monad Labs built the Monad blockchain.
What is Monad?
Monad is a cutting-edge Layer 1 blockchain that leverages the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)—the software that powers the Ethereum blockchain, and all networks built on top of it.
This approach enables Monad to support all existing Ethereum smart contracts and applications without any need for modification. This compatibility is crucial for encouraging adoption among Ethereum developers, who can migrate their applications to Monad with ease and without facing interoperability issues.
Having said that, Monad is attempting to build a more streamlined version of the EVM from the ground up. The goal is to address the EVM's shortcomings, which have led to scalability and performance issues on the Ethereum blockchain, as well as relatively steep transaction costs.
For example, Ethereum only processes approximately 10 transactions per second (TPS), while the fastest EVM chain, Binance Chain, runs at approximately 200 TPS. As a comparison, Solana's true TPS fluctuates between 500 and 1,000.
The limitations of EVM chains mainly boil down to the same weakness: sequential execution. Sequential execution, naturally, is highly inefficient; while parallelized execution is more powerful and capable.
Solana, for example, leverages parallel execution to achieve higher transaction speeds. Monad Labs is adopting Solana's approach by introducing parallel execution as well, with the goal of significantly increasing transaction speeds of the EVM, and consequently the Monad blockchain—making consumer-grade, decentralized applications possible.
Currently, Monad is working on a testnet, with the mainnet launch scheduled for sometime in 2024.
Monad community: Nads on top
An online community, especially on platforms such as 𝕏, Telegram, and Discord, is a critical asset in a project's go-to-market strategy.
That’s because these digital channels offer unique opportunities for engagement, feedback, and growth, facilitating a dynamic interaction between a brand and its potential contributors and users.
And this is exactly the playbook Monad Labs is running.
The team is not only using 𝕏 to quickly spread the word to a worldwide audience, it also uses the platform to encourage and capitalize on user-generated content, boosting both visibility and credibility.
Apart from that, Monad also leverages both Telegram and Discord for direct engagement and feedback. While Telegram allows the Monad team to conduct real-time communication to keep tabs on sentiment, Discord takes this a step further. In Monad's Discord server, detailed discussions and feedback loops are helping the team to collect feedback, make adjustments, and iterate—all in preparation for the imminent mainnet launch.
All these efforts have allowed Monad Labs to foster one of the most passionate developer ecosystems in crypto, which in turn has positively affected users on 𝕏 who are eagerly awaiting the mainnet launch.
Impact and future prospects
Looking ahead, the Monad blockchain is poised to play a significant role in the evolution of blockchain technology.
Its innovative features, such as EVM compatibility and parallel execution, set it apart from other Layer 1 solutions and position it as a strong player in the blockchain space.
As it moves from its testnet phase to mainnet launch, the focus will be on scaling the infrastructure, ensuring robust security measures, and expanding its user base.
How to get started with Monad using Phantom
As outlined above, at this time, Monad is working on a testnet, with the mainnet launch scheduled for 2024.
Although there isn’t a specific launch date yet, you can expect to use your Phantom wallet on Monad from day one.
If you haven’t already, download the Phantom extension or app today to make sure that you don’t miss any of our upcoming Monad action.
Disclaimer: This guide is strictly for educational purposes only and doesn’t constitute financial or legal advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.
