From: thepipeline_xyz
The announcement of Devnet marked a significant milestone for Monad supporters globally, kicking off Season 3 of The Pipeline podcast [00:00:10]. This development is considered a very important and unique achievement within the EVM landscape [00:01:38]. Eunice, Monad’s co-founder and COO, joined the podcast to discuss Devnet and future plans [00:00:27].
What is Devnet?
Devnet is defined as a fully functioning blockchain environment specifically designed for the Monad blockchain [00:01:57]. It represents an “incredible milestone” for the team, as it signifies the unification of two years of crafting and deeply optimizing various parts of the blockchain stack across execution and consensus [00:02:03].
Devnet brings together all four of Monad’s technical stack optimizations [00:02:18], marrying key modules such as:
- The consensus engine (MonadBFT) [00:02:23]
- The execution engine, which enables parallelized execution [00:02:30]
- Their interactions through MonadDB [00:02:35]
This results in a fully functioning, cohesive system [00:02:37].
Who Can Use Devnet?
Devnet is currently an internal core team environment [00:02:40]. This means it is not yet accessible to the public [00:02:46]. The next public-facing milestone will be Testnet, which will be phased [00:02:49].
Devnet’s Headline: 10K TPS on the EVM
One of the major headlines surrounding Devnet is its achievement of 10,000 Transactions Per Second (TPS) on the EVM [00:03:00].
Monad’s Definition and Measurement of TPS
TPS is often confusing and misleading due to a lack of a universal, standardized measurement [00:03:24]. It can be easy to boost this metric using simplified environments or transaction data, such as simple transfers [00:03:40].
Transactions vary significantly in complexity; some are computation-intensive, while others, like transfers, are very quick [00:04:01]. Creating a TPS metric solely based on simple transfers can lead to an artificially high “theoretical TPS” or “maximum TPS” [00:04:27] [00:04:40]. However, transfer-only scenarios do not reflect real-world blockchain data, which involves complex transactions from smart contracts and applications [00:04:55].
Monad measures “real TPS” by using real historic Ethereum data to replay transactions on the Monad blockchain [00:05:22]. This approach provides a more realistic and accurate view of true blockchain performance [00:05:26]. The use of recent Ethereum transaction data is crucial to emulate a current blockchain environment, as early Ethereum primarily saw simple transfers, unlike today’s complex smart contract interactions [00:06:14]. This method allows Monad to demonstrate its performance optimizations in an EVM environment using real-world activity [00:07:15]. This highlights monads_key_innovations.
Devnet’s Role in Monad’s Go-to-Market Strategy
Devnet is the first of many exciting milestones for Monad this year [00:07:52]. It serves as an internal “dog fooding” process, allowing the core team to identify the existing system’s strengths and areas for further optimization [00:08:02]. As a software company, Monad emphasizes iterative improvements through code development [00:08:13]. Subsequent milestones will continue to show improvements to the Monad blockchain [00:08:27].
Monad’s Development Journey and Future Outlook
Reflecting on the past 16 months, Monad started as a small, heavily engineering-focused team of about seven people a year ago [00:09:19]. The initial phase involved extensive whiteboarding and architecting a complex system while maintaining EVM compatibility [00:09:50].
This period also saw significant monads_team_and_community_development:
- Team Growth: Monad began as a remote company to find talent globally [00:10:51]. Around 14 months ago (early 2023), they established a physical presence in New York, starting with a small WeWork office for two people [00:11:15]. This grew to a 25-person office, and now they occupy an entire floor in Nomad, New York (north of Madison Square Park, coincidentally sharing letters with Monad) [00:11:46]. The in-person presence has greatly benefited engineering, ecosystem, and business development teams [00:12:03].
- Community Expansion: Alongside team development, there has been “huge development” of the Monad community [00:13:10]. Bill is noted as a core part of building the community’s culture [00:13:18]. The community’s creativity is evident in artwork, themed nails, and music [00:14:08].
- Ecosystem Development: Monad has engaged in productive conversations with project teams interested in multi-chain expansion to the Monad ecosystem, as well as new crypto teams looking to build Monad-native applications [00:14:31]. The shift in conversations from “why an L1?” to “what are your plans for Testnet?” indicates growing understanding of Monad’s vision for a high-performing L1 [00:15:09].
The development_journey_of_monad over the past year has been rapid and exciting [00:15:39]. Many learned about Monad during a challenging market period but quickly understood the necessary optimizations it brings to push the space forward [00:16:03]. The community’s vibrancy and addictive nature fostered strong connections [00:16:48].
Looking ahead, Monad remains focused on the goal of launching a strong Mainnet [00:17:38]. The team continues to grow across engineering and ecosystem support [00:17:52]. The Monad blockchain is considered the “skeleton,” with applications, tooling, and infrastructure as the “muscles and tendons,” but the community is the “beating heart” that brings it to life [00:18:27].
Future initiatives include:
- Increased physical presence at conferences [00:19:01]
- Potentially hosting Monad’s own events in New York [00:19:06]
- Discussions around hosting a hackathon [00:19:26]
Monad aims to maintain a continued presence within the crypto industry [00:19:38], with growing recognition [00:19:56].
Community Engagement and Swag
For community members excited about Monad swag, new designs and merchandise will be available in the coming months [00:22:01]. Attendees at conferences can often find team members carrying a small handful of swag [00:22:07]. For those unable to attend events, continued engagement with The Pipeline and updates will provide opportunities to acquire new merch [00:22:25]. Many within the Monad team, including Keone, are frequently seen wearing Monad apparel [00:23:34].