From: thepipeline_xyz
Monad Labs, with CEO Keone and Developer Relations Lead Kevin G, is focused on creating a high-performance blockchain that revamps the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) [00:01:35]. Their mission centers on addressing the challenges in scaling the EVM to enable broader adoption of decentralized applications [00:03:00].
The Need for EVM Scalability
Despite the popularity of Layer 2 (L2) solutions and other scaling efforts in early 2022, Monad identified a critical need to focus on the EVM’s execution stack [00:01:51] [00:02:01]. The EVM is currently the dominant standard for smart contracts, holding 98% of all Total Value Locked (TVL) in crypto [00:03:12] [00:03:15].
Historically, the original Ethereum developers designed a system that allowed for broad composability, where applications like ERC20 tokens could be implemented at the smart contract layer rather than the base layer [00:11:36] [00:12:00]. However, practical limitations have emerged due to high gas costs and the nature of Ethereum as a “global queue” with limited transaction space per block (around 200 transactions every 12 seconds) [00:12:16] [00:12:32] [00:12:34]. This has severely limited the extent of composability [00:12:39].
Monad’s Technical Approach to High Performance
Monad’s approach involves fundamental optimizations to the EVM execution, including:
- Parallel Execution: Introducing parallel execution to significantly improve performance [00:02:12].
- High-Performance State Database: Developing a state database that stores data in a Merkle tree while supporting many parallel reads and writes [00:02:22] [00:02:29]. This addresses bottlenecks present in the Ethereum Virtual Machine [00:02:31] [00:02:36].
- Fundamentals First Principles: Taking a fundamental, first-principles approach to solving performance problems, applying best practices from 30 years of high-performance computing to blockchain [00:04:03] [00:04:22].
By rebuilding the execution stack from the ground up, Monad aims to achieve execution performance that is currently unmatched [00:40:36] [00:40:40].
Enabling New Use Cases and Composability
A core value proposition of Monad is enhancing composability [00:09:24]. Existing limitations on other blockchains, such as Solana’s Cross-Program Invocation (CPI) depth of three, or the practical gas limits on EVM, restrict how deeply smart contracts can interact [00:09:35] [00:09:40]. Monad aims to remove these gas constraints, allowing for greater freedom in building and composing applications [00:12:53] [00:12:57].
This increased capacity is envisioned to “accelerate” the EVM, similar to how electric cars offered a new spectrum of possibilities compared to gas-powered ones [00:13:42] [00:13:59]. It enables previously “cost-prohibitive” ideas, such as:
- Event Ticketing as NFTs: Issuing concert tickets as NFTs could provide digital mementos, but current gas costs make this unfeasible on Ethereum [00:17:55] [00:18:02] [00:18:24].
- Advanced NFT Standards: More complex NFT standards that include in-protocol royalty enforcement or loyalty program tracking are currently too expensive to implement and gain adoption [00:17:03] [00:17:07] [00:17:11].
- Mass Adoption of DeFi: Current DeFi applications are “dogfooded” by crypto natives but would not scale to normal adoption levels due to expense [00:19:06] [00:19:10]. Monad aims to scale these to many more users, making business models more sensible [00:19:16] [00:19:18].
- Context-Aware Web3 Experiences: The ability to store user data in wallets and have applications service content based on that data, without privacy concerns, could unlock new native web2-like experiences [00:23:41] [00:24:09]. This requires a chain with high throughput and low fees [00:24:49] [00:24:51].
Keone is particularly excited about decentralized finance (DeFi) applications such as money markets, decentralized exchanges, derivatives, and high-fidelity oracles, as well as consumer-facing apps like sports betting, on-chain casinos, and social applications [00:21:14] [00:23:01].
Team Expertise
Monad Labs’ team of approximately 25 people specializes in building high-performance, low-latency systems [00:06:10] [00:07:18]. Their background includes experience in high-frequency trading and low-level systems engineering [00:00:52] [00:01:11]. This expertise is crucial because parts of a blockchain like Monad function as a database, requiring in-depth knowledge of system performance, including kernel-level optimizations [00:07:32] [00:07:38] [00:07:47].
Challenges and Opportunities for Builders
Despite the advantages, challenges for builders in the EVM environment include:
- Funding Acquisition: Attracting funding, particularly for international builders, remains difficult [00:33:03] [00:33:16].
- Security: Building decentralized applications is inherently challenging due to constant probing by black-hat hackers [00:33:34] [00:33:49]. Lowering gas costs, as Monad aims to do, can enable developers to include more defensive assertions in their code without prohibitive expense, thereby improving security [00:34:03] [00:34:24].
However, the strong crypto community offers a significant advantage, providing eager users and support that traditional tech startups often lack [00:35:17] [00:35:20].
Monad aims to bridge the gap between traditional web2 developers and web3, by providing real-world use cases with user experiences (UX/UI) similar to web2 [00:36:00] [00:36:06]. This could encourage more web2 developers to explore building on blockchain [00:36:11] [00:36:14]. The goal is to make blockchain development feel like “just building an app,” enabling developers to focus on unique experiences [00:37:48] [00:37:59].
Measuring Performance (TPS)
The concept of Transactions Per Second (TPS) as a metric for blockchain performance optimization can be confusing due to non-uniform measurement practices [00:46:58] [00:49:24].
- Voting Transactions: In Solana, official block explorers may include validator votes in the total TPS count, which are technically transactions but not user-initiated smart contract interactions [00:47:16] [00:47:39]. Solana’s true TPS (user transactions) is around 500 transactions per second, while votes might add another 2,500 [00:48:04] [00:48:06] [00:48:09]. Monad intends to only count actual smart contract interactions and transfers in its advertised TPS [00:48:21] [00:48:39].
- Instruction Counting: Some chains, like Aptos or Sui, may count individual instructions within a smart contract invocation as separate transactions, artificially inflating TPS numbers [00:48:57] [00:49:09].
- Capacity vs. Demand: Current TPS numbers often reflect current demand rather than the system’s maximum capacity [00:49:39]. Testnet benchmarks can be misleading if they don’t accurately reflect production environments [00:50:09] [00:50:15].
- Transaction Size: Transactions on different systems can vary greatly in size and complexity, making direct TPS comparisons inaccurate [00:51:47]. A more abstract metric like raw bytes per second propagated through the system could be a better benchmark [00:52:36] [00:52:38]. Monad plans to provide reproducible benchmarks using historical Ethereum transaction history as a proxy for real-life activity [00:50:49] [00:51:17] [00:53:02].
Future Vision
Monad’s long-term vision is not to replace Ethereum, but to expand the overall “pie” of blockchain users by focusing on new user acquisition from Web2 and delivering compelling, decentralized applications [00:42:18] [00:42:20] [00:43:01] [00:45:50] [00:45:52]. While Monad currently stands out through its performance and ability to enable new use cases, the expectation is that over time, other systems will also improve [00:39:06] [00:39:15]. Monad’s continued differentiation will come from its commitment to pushing the limits of technology, introducing new features like op codes and integrations, and maintaining a high degree of decentralization [00:39:36] [00:40:00] [00:40:21] [00:40:26].
The evolution and impact of high-performance blockchain technology aims to make crypto pervasive globally, similar to how WeChat has become an all-encompassing platform in China, allowing users to interact with various services through a decentralized wallet [00:19:50] [00:19:53] [00:20:01]. Ultimately, the goal is to make these services significantly cheaper for mass adoption [00:20:28]. The ability to leverage the existing EVM research community, developer tooling, and applied cryptography efforts is crucial for advancing the entire space [00:30:11] [00:31:47].