History of the Monad Community

From: thepipeline_xyz
The Monad community, often referred to as the “Nads,” has evolved significantly over the past two years, becoming a prominent and well-known group within the broader cryptocurrency community [00:00:15]. Deep research involving historians, archaeologists, and ethnographers has documented its growth and dominance [00:00:42].

Origins and Early Concepts

The journey began with co-founders Keon and James leaving Jump in late 2021/early 2022 [00:06:38]. While many were focusing on Layer 2 solutions, they decided to build a Layer 1 blockchain, making specific design choices for this fit [00:06:44].

A key design choice made in January 2023 by Bill Mundy and others was to ensure Monad was 100% EVM compatible, all the way to the bytecode level [00:07:26]. This decision aimed to leverage the existing resources and collateral from the Ethereum ecosystem and other EVM chains [00:07:54]. The initial pitch for Monad’s performance was 10,000 TPS, aiming to be 1,000 times faster than Ethereum on similar hardware [00:11:05]. This 10,000 TPS benchmark was initially Keon’s marketing contribution and Jack’s idea, who suggested the number 10,000 to “blow the doors off” [00:11:12].

Key Community Developments and Lore

• Ganad (December 2022): The first “Ganad” image, a purple Pepe, was created by John W Rich Kid (who had no affiliation to Monad at the time) as a sticker pack [00:03:51]. It was used in a simple “GM” tweet and released around the Bill Mundy initialization [00:04:23]. The word “Ganad” itself has no single right pronunciation [00:05:02].
• Mandac (Purple Hedgehog): The beloved Mandac originated when Saphire dropped a picture of a purple hedgehog in the Discord [00:12:52]. Bill Mundy adopted it, and early usage involved photoshopping it into historical photos [00:13:04]. The name “Mandac” came from the filename “mandak.PNG,” and it was later discovered that “landak” means hedgehog in Indonesian [00:14:14].
• Original Purple Pepe: Before a community-built mascot, the purple Pepe served as a placeholder character, providing customization to the standard Pepe meme [00:16:45]. John W Rich Kid also created the initial purple Pepe images [00:18:19]. This set the tone for future characters like Mandac, which initially had Pepe-esque facial features [00:17:36].
• Memes of the Week: This initiative, inspired by Greg’s tweet chain, showcased the four best memes of the week [00:16:01]. It ran for a year, ending spontaneously after 52 weeks [00:16:22].
• John W Rich Kid the Fry Cook: Tunes describes himself as a mentor to John W Rich Kid, teaching him about fundamentals during the 2021 “shitcoin season” [00:18:55].
• Thursday Purge Day: This ritual began in April 2023 within the “locked Telegram,” an exclusive group capped at 999 members [00:19:50]. To make room for new people, John W Rich Kid would “execute” members (initially 100, then 50, then 20) at noon every Thursday [00:20:06].
• Chog: Chog is an AI representation of a Mandac, drawn by RayJ [00:21:57]. The chog familiar to the community is called Monal, who is RayJ’s son and genetically both a chog and a Mandac [00:22:15]. Chog is defined by pink under-eye bags [00:23:19]. There’s a “Chog Thoughts” AI Twitter account, with Chog being the first real AI Twitter account [00:23:25].
• Poker Knights on Discord: Started as “Ports Poker,” this weekly event has been running for over a year [00:25:32]. Youngest Peso designed its blinds and settings, which have largely remained unchanged [00:25:46]. It is considered the first weekly event that has maintained its relevance [00:26:12].
• Intern Locked in the Bathroom: Kevin, an intern, was accidentally (or purposefully) locked in the office bathroom due to a broken door handle [00:26:54]. After about 25 minutes, Kieran and James kicked down the door to release him [00:27:31].
• Mon Hats: The original Mon hat was a bowler hat [00:28:31]. Later, a beanie with stripes, inspired by kids in New York, was designed by Han River [00:28:55]. These real-life beanies are still worn by community members [00:29:14].
• Danny Pipes’ Podcast (“The Pipeline”): Danny Pipes launched this podcast and media arm in early 2023, seeking to provide a consistent source of high-level updates, news, and alpha on Monad [00:31:24]. It grew into something much bigger than initially envisioned, celebrating its one-year anniversary [00:31:59].
• Salmonad: Salmonad is described as a “useless” mon animal with no defining skills, adopted by the developer community perhaps out of pity [00:32:40]. He is also described as homeless [00:33:19].
• The Mooch: This creature is associated with the French, possibly due to frustration with the overpowered French team in FIFA [00:33:33].
• Cake Punch Incident: Claire, a Korean member of the community, baked an ornately decorated Monad cake and then live-streamed or videoed herself punching her fist through it [00:34:27].
• Mon Meme Generator.com: Jack created this tool to easily “monify” memes, allowing users to drag and drop stickers (like the Monad bowler hat) onto images [00:35:30]. Initially built with “shitty old code” and GPT, it has since been taken over by Contribution DAO and improved [00:36:20].
• Fon / Fake One: This refers to a hacker who changed a rapper’s Twitter account (with thousands of “street tweets”) to Keon’s profile picture and name, making it appear as if Keon had made the original tweets [00:37:44].
• Port is not real: An early piece of lore that has since been debunked, as Port is now confirmed to be real [00:38:43]. This also relates to an AI Port [00:38:56].
• Beads Day: A recent holiday where everyone changed their profile picture to “beads,” including Keon [00:39:37].
• Live Laugh Monadt: This phrase originated from community members with non-native English, embodying their love for Monad [00:40:08].
• Madel: A “failed mon animal” representing an earlier, awkward stage of evolution, similar to an “awkward middle school picture” for the community [00:40:44]. It looks like a “Mandac plushy” put in a dryer [00:41:46].
• Monal Weasley: This was a failed character based on Harry Potter, whose name was later recycled for RayJ’s chog [00:42:23].
• Shrimp Posting / Shrimp Dex: RayJ’s earlier obsession, stemming from his research into high-density aquaponic shrimp farming as an alternative income source during a crypto winter [00:42:54]. This led to ideas like shrimp NFTs [00:43:21].
• Tunes, You’re Fired: A running joke where Tunes is told he would be fired in any other industry for his actions, though he is given 50 “strikes” [00:43:57].
• Moss Fatu: A failed mon animal based on a Dracula/vampire theme, inspired by a spooky SpongeBob episode where “Nosferatu” is flicking lights [00:44:52].
• Bill Monday Equals Plant: Bill Monday would stream by showing a camera view of a plant, as he was not doxxed [00:46:04].
• Moncraft: About 13 months prior, a custom Monad-themed Minecraft server was created to host events and allow community members to build dwellings and sculptures [00:46:35].
• Dong Dango Mr Bill: A “bastardized phrase” from an AI video by RayJ where Bean Ads would say, “Please don’t beat me, Mr. Bill,” translated into Vietnamese [00:47:27].
• Samantha: A mysterious, redheaded ex-girlfriend whom the community misses dearly. A shrine was built for her in Moncraft, though it was unsuccessful in luring her back [00:48:09].

The Monad community continues to be a vibrant and evolving space, constantly generating new lore, events, and memes [00:50:00].