As blockchain technology develops rapidly, Ethereum, as a pioneer of smart contracts and decentralized applications, has long been focusing on the leading position of layer 1 (L1) blockchain. However, as transaction volume surges and network congestion begins to clog, Ethereum's scalability has increased dramatically, and high gas fees and low throughput have caused users and developers to seek alternatives.
In this context, as an emerging high-performance L1 blockchain, can Monad truly surpass Ethereum, break through its bottleneck, and become the benchmark for the next generation of blockchain?
Project Introduction
Monad is a high-performance Layer-1 (L1) blockchain project that aims to address the bottlenecks of traditional blockchains such as Ethereum in transaction throughput and scalability while maintaining full compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
Monad significantly improves transaction processing speed by introducing the concept of "parallel EVM" and using innovative execution mechanisms (such as MonadDB and Optimistic parallel execution technology), with the goal of achieving 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), far exceeding Ethereum's current performance. The project is positioned as a developer-friendly public chain that is compatible with existing Ethereum tools and infrastructure, and attracts decentralized application (DApp) ecosystem migration or construction.
Monad was developed by Monad Labs and uses the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. It focuses on high efficiency, low cost and high scalability, and is seen as a potential competitor or supplement to the Ethereum ecosystem.
Founding Team
Monad's core team is composed of veterans in the blockchain industry with deep technical background and rich development experience.
Founder: One of the co-founders of Monad Labs is Keone Hon, who has more than 10 years of experience in high-frequency trading and distributed systems. He worked at Jump Trading, a top trading firm on Wall Street, where he was responsible for the design and optimization of low-latency systems. This laid the technical foundation for Monad's high-performance architecture.
Other members: The team also includes developers from high-performance blockchain projects such as Pyth Network and Solana. Pyth is a decentralized oracle network that works closely with Solana. The team's technical accumulation provides support for Monad's parallel execution and database optimization.
The team as a whole is known for being low-key and pragmatic, focusing on technology research and development rather than excessive marketing.
Financing and Valuation
Monad is one of the most high-profile financing projects in the crypto space in recent years.
Financing status:
In April 2024, Monad Labs announced the completion of a $225 million financing round, one of the largest crypto project financings so far in 2024.
The lead investor is top venture capital firm Paradigm, and participating investors include Electric Capital, Greenoaks Capital, IOSG Ventures, SevenX Ventures, and Amber Group and other well-known crypto investment entities.
In addition, there are rumors that investors with exchange backgrounds such as OKX Ventures are also making subsequent additional investments, further enhancing the financial strength of the project.
Total historical funding is said to be as high as $244 million (part of which may include early seed round funding).
Valuation:
The current valuation is approximately US$3 billion, a figure that places it among the top valuations of crypto projects, reflecting the market's high recognition of its technological potential and ecological prospects.
Advantages and highlights
Parallel EVM:
The core innovation of Monad lies in its parallel execution mechanism. Unlike Ethereum's serial transaction processing, Monad can process multiple transactions simultaneously within a single block while maintaining consistency with the execution semantics of EVM. This design greatly improves TPS while retaining the Ethereum development environment familiar to developers.
high performance:
The project's target TPS is 10,000 times/second, and the block confirmation time is as low as 0.5 seconds, far exceeding Ethereum's current approximately 15 TPS and several seconds of confirmation time. This performance makes it suitable for speed-sensitive application scenarios such as high-frequency trading and GameFi.
EVM Compatibility:
Monad supports Ethereum RPC API and bytecode. Developers can migrate existing DApps to Monad without modifying the code, which lowers the threshold for ecosystem construction.
Strong ecological support:
Monad has attracted nearly 60 projects that have explicitly stated that they will build on its chain, including DeFi, NFT, and infrastructure applications, and the ecological potential is beginning to emerge.
Top capital endorsement:
Investments from institutions such as Paradigm not only provide financial support, but also bring strategic resources and industry influence.
Latest Developments
As of March 20, 2025, Monad's development and community activity has made significant progress:
Testnet online:
The Monad testnet has been launched recently, and users can participate in the interaction and experience its high performance. According to community data, as of March 17, the number of testnet addresses exceeded 14.55 million, the number of interactions exceeded 32 million times, the peak TPS reached 3000+, and the success rate was as high as 98%. These data demonstrate the reliability of its technical implementation.
Ecological Development:
Nearly 60 projects have been confirmed to be built on Monad, covering DeFi, GameFi and infrastructure fields. Some projects may be launched after the mainnet goes online, and the ecosystem is expanding rapidly.
Community Activities:
Monad officials actively interact with the community through Discord and social media, which may involve airdrops or node operation rewards, attracting a large number of users to participate in testnet and warm-up activities.
Future potential
The future potential of Monad can be analyzed from two dimensions: technology and market:
Technological potential:
Monad's parallel EVM and high TPS design fills the performance gap in the Ethereum ecosystem and may become the preferred public chain for high-performance applications.
Compared with non-EVM chains such as Solana, Monad's EVM compatibility makes it more competitive and can directly attract developers and users from the Ethereum ecosystem.
Market Potential:
The current L1 public chain competition is fierce. If Monad can deliver on its performance promises and establish a stable ecosystem, it is expected to become one of the top public chains, and even challenge Solana or become a strong contender for the "Ethereum killer."
The $3 billion valuation could climb further after the mainnet launch, especially in a bull cycle, driven by potential airdrops and market enthusiasm.
With its top technological innovation, strong team background and strong capital support, Monad has become one of the most noteworthy crypto projects in 2025.
The combination of its high performance and EVM compatibility provides developers with a new choice, and the successful operation of the test network and the initial formation of the ecosystem further verify its potential. If Monad can deliver on its promises after the mainnet is launched and continue to expand its ecological influence, it is expected to occupy an important position in the future public chain competition. Don't miss it!