Day by day, the cryptocurrency market is developing rapidly, offering users new features and capabilities. Despite the huge number of existing blockchains, the most popular ones in 2024 are those that prioritize scalability. However, while many blockchains offer decent throughput and speed, they lack EVM compatibility. This is where Monad came into play - a platform that solved this problem. Monad Chain not only achieved incredible scalability but also remained compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Today, Notum will tell you what Monad Chain is and how it works, what its distinctive features and potential problems are, and will also shed light on what is known about the project's airdrop.
Monad: Essentials
Monad is a layer 1 blockchain, which has fairly high performance and speed. The platform was designed from the ground up to ensure compatibility with EVM and focus on scalability and decentralization.
Since the platform offers optimization in several areas, a blockchain is created with a throughput of 10,000 transactions per second. Other high Monad metrics also include completion on one slot and one second lock time.
Interesting fact! Monad combines a huge number of advanced technologies, namely MonadBFT, deferred execution, parallel execution and MonadDb.
Thus, Monad eliminates the current shortcomings of blockchains while maintaining seamless compatibility for both developers and users. Due to full EVM bytecode and RPC API compatibility, the entire extensive set of Ethereum tools can be integrated into Monad. In addition to this, users and developers will also benefit from improved throughput and scalability.
Important! While developers can use Ethereum tools to build their Monad-based projects, users take advantage from from fast transactions with low fees.
Monad Chain was created by a project called Monad Labs, which was founded in 2022 as a technology startup. The Monad Labs team developed Monad Chain to solve the problems of existing L1 projects, namely insufficient bandwidth and high fees.
Interesting fact! Project’s co-founder Keone Hon states that Monad could become the new standard for layer 1 projects due to its security, transparency and scalability.
Source: Monad XYZ
Traditional blockchains with sequential processing perform only a limited number of transactions at a time, after which they are confirmed and added to the block one by one, which reduces network throughput. This is where the problem of high transactions arises when users try to speed up the processing of their transactions due to high demand.
Monad has solved this problem and created a fairly elegant solution that maintains both fast layer 1 processing and Ethereum compatibility.
«The Monad client is built with a focus on performance and is written from scratch in C++ and Rust» - Monad Docs.
How Does Monad Work?
For users, Monad blockchain works and behaves much like Ethereum. Moreover, applications built on Ethereum can also be transferred to Monad without changing the code, giving users the opportunity to use their favorite applications with all the benefits offered by Monad Chain.
Interesting fact! Since Monad uses the same address space as Ethereum, users can reuse existing keys.
Other similarities between Ethereum and Monad include linear blocks as well as linear ordering of transactions within a block. Moreover, as in the case of Ethereum, Monad is a PoS network maintained by validators, which means any user can run a Monad node to verify transaction execution.
However, Monad's operating principles also differ in many ways. For example, it provides exceptional performance due to parallel execution, where transactions, although executed in parallel, are completed sequentially from the user and developer's point of view. Thus, the result of the transaction will always be the same as if they were executed one after another.
Apart from this, Monad also introduces pipelining and other optimizations for four branches, namely MonadBFT, Deferred Execution, Parallel Execution, and MonadDb. More information about this can be found here.
Monad's first public testnet is scheduled to launch in the coming months, after which users will be able to add the RPC URL and ChainId to their wallet and start using the network like other Ethereum-compatible options.
Important! If you want to run a node or develop on Monad, you can get all the necessary information on “Using Monad” page in the official chain docs.
Why Use Monad Chain?
Monad, as a decentralized EVM-compatible platform, offers users a number of unique advantages:
- Decentralization and scalability. The chain increases throughput capabilities and supports 10k tps, providing a huge number of opportunities for distributed apps to work in a decentralized manner.
- Composability. With Open APIs, decentralized applications like Monad allow users to combine existing components and build more complex functionality on top of them.
- Censorship-resistance. Using Monad Chain, any user can submit transactions or upload apps to a network.
- Speed and low commissions. Using parallel processing, Monad supports more transactions per second, thereby providing faster confirmation to users. Increased network efficiency due to parallel data processing can in turn reduce transaction fees.
- Rapid ecosystem development. Developers familiar with Ethereum can deploy smart contracts on Monad due to its EVM compatibility. Since developers don't have to learn new tools, it greatly simplifies development and creates a large developer community around the project.
- Architecture. While existing blockchains are relatively slow, Monad is focused on performance and finds a compromise between traditional and decentralized platforms through optimized architecture and pipelined execution.
Source: Monad XYZ
Monad Airdrop
As known, on April 9, Monad raised $225 million as part of an investment round from Paradigm - a fund that often puts money into projects that distribute airdrops. Moreover, layer1 blockchains most often create native tokens so that investors can recoup their money and users get additional incentives to participate in the project’s ecosystem. That is why now there are multiple discussions and rumors about the launch of Monad crypto and the upcoming airdrop.
At the moment, there has been no confirmation of the airdrop or its date from the project itself, so there are no clear instructions on how you can qualify for a potential $MONAD. However, Monad will most likely reward the people who supported the project from the very beginning and distribute tokens to early users and active community members.
Important! Even though there are now a huge number of step by step guides on how to get a Monad token airdrop, there has been no official confirmation, date or distribution method yet. Be careful, check the platform’s social networks and pay attention to announcements.
Monad: Risks and Disadvantages
Even though Monad solves the main problems associated with the scalability of layer 1 networks, it still has potential problems that are also important to consider:
- Technical moments. Although parallel processing and MonadBFT have a number of advantages, it still faces some difficulties and problems, such as maintaining data consistency, as well as resolving conflicts between parallel transactions.
- Impact on decentralization. Some parts of the chain's unique architecture, such as the native EVM and MonadDB, can be detrimental to decentralization.
- New concept. Although Monad offers new and elegant solutions to layer 1 networks’ problems, attracting users and developers to a new project can be challenging. Since existing blockchains have their own ecosystems and user bases, it may take some effort to demonstrate the benefits of the new concept proposed by Monad.
Notum’s Verdict
Monad is a unique and at the same time promising project that has every chance of reshaping the future of blockchain. Undoubtedly, its speed, cheap transactions, EVM compatibility, and parallel processing solution are of great interest and discussion in the crypto community. In addition, Monad Chain also introduced several innovations, namely MonadBFT, Deferred Execution, Parallel Execution, and MonadDb.
For users, Monad works and behaves much like Ethereum. Moreover, applications built on Ethereum can also be transferred to Monad without changing the code, giving users the opportunity to utilize their favorite apps with all the benefits offered by Monad Chain.
Since Monad is similar to Ethereum, it will not feel completely new. Moreover, apps built on Ethereum can be transferred to Monad without changing the code. This way, users will be able to use most of their apps and at the same time benefit from Monad. Also, thanks to EVM compatibility, developers who know how Ethereum operates will not need to master new tools, which will simplify the deployment of smart contracts and apps development.
Although the project is still in development and didn’t release its mainnet yet, after moving from a testnet to a fully functional blockchain network, Monad is well-positioned to compete for a leading position in the blockchain space.