From: thepipeline_xyz
Monad is building a blockchain focused on revamping the EVM to introduce significant performance optimizations [00:01:35](00:01:35). The team believes that someone needs to focus on the execution stack to make EVM execution much more performant [00:02:02](00:02:02). This effort aims to address bottlenecks within the Ethereum Virtual Machine [00:03:33](00:03:33) and enable new possibilities previously constrained by gas costs [00:13:59](00:13:59).
Key Optimization Strategies
Monad’s approach involves several fundamental changes and optimization strategies:
- Parallel Execution The introduction of parallel execution is a core optimization [00:09:12](00:09:12). This is enabled by underlying components that support high-performance parallel processing [00:02:17](00:02:17).
- High-Performance State Database A high-performance state database is crucial for storing data in a Merkel tree while simultaneously supporting access for many reads and writes in parallel [00:02:22](00:02:22). This includes dealing with storage on disk and keeping the right data in cache for fast reads [00:08:07](00:08:07). Monad is building a database as part of its blockchain [00:07:47](00:07:47), drawing on expertise in designing performant systems like MySQL or Postgres [00:07:53](00:07:53).
- Addressing EVM Bottlenecks Beyond parallel execution, Monad addresses other bottlenecks within the EVM [00:02:31](00:02:31).
- Low-Level Systems Engineering The team applies a “fundamentals first principles approach” to the problem, utilizing best practices from 30 years of high-performance computing [00:04:03](00:04:03). This involves expertise over the performance of the entire system, sometimes delving into kernel-level optimizations [00:07:32](00:07:32).
Impact of Optimizations
These optimizations are designed to enable new functionalities and enhance existing ones:
- Enhanced Composability The EVM theoretically allows for deep call stacks (e.g., 1,024 calls deep) [00:11:29](00:11:29). However, practical limitations like gas costs have restricted this [00:09:45](00:09:45). Monad aims to remove these gas constraints, allowing for much greater composability [00:10:09](00:10:09). This will enable developers to build on “money Legos” and existing, tested EVM code without hitting prohibitive gas limits [00:15:06](00:15:06).
- Enabling New Use Cases By reducing gas costs substantially, Monad can enable use cases previously impractical on Ethereum, such as event ticketing NFTs with rich metadata like in-protocol royalty enforcement or loyalty tracking [00:17:03](00:17:03).
- Scaling Existing Business Models The ability to scale existing applications to many more users will make many business models more viable [00:19:16](00:19:16). This is critical for moving beyond “dog-fooding” crypto products to mass adoption [00:18:41](00:18:41).
- Improved Security Lower gas costs will allow developers to include more defensive assertions and invariant checks in their smart contracts without incurring prohibitively high fees, thus improving application security [00:34:03](00:34:03).
- Better Developer and User Experience Monad aims to provide a user experience akin to Web2 applications, making blockchain development accessible to Web2 developers [00:36:06](00:36:06). The goal is for users not to even notice they are on a blockchain [00:37:19](00:37:19).
Monad’s Stance on L2s and Solana
Monad’s founders started in early 2022, opting not to build an L2 because they believed the execution stack needed focus [00:01:47](00:01:47). While L2s and ZK proofs received significant attention, core EVM execution was less prioritized [00:02:46](00:02:46). Monad sees itself as solving a different, but equally needed, area of blockchain scaling [00:03:03](00:03:03).
Regarding Solana, Monad acknowledges its “awesome tech” for enabling financial products with fractions of a cent fees and scaling to millions of users [00:22:34](00:22:34). However, Solana’s developer experience can be tricky due to its lack of EVM compatibility [00:22:50](00:22:50). Monad aims to combine Solana-like performance with the familiar EVM compatibility that developers prefer [00:28:34](00:28:34).
Monad’s mission is not to threaten or replace Ethereum, but to complement it by enabling new modes of transactions that are much more plentiful and cheaper [00:42:16](00:42:16). The goal is to grow the overall “pie” of crypto users rather than split existing users [00:45:34](00:45:34).
Team and Expertise
Monad Labs has a team of about 25 people, prioritizing a laser focus on core problems [00:06:10](00:06:10). The engineering team primarily consists of individuals with extensive experience in building high-performance, low-latency systems, particularly in areas like high-frequency trading and low-level systems engineering [00:07:16](00:07:16). This background is crucial for tackling the “really fundamental problems at a system level for the EVM” [00:04:37](00:04:37).
Measuring Performance (TPS)
TPS (Transactions Per Second) is often a confusing metric in the blockchain space [00:48:52](00:48:52):
- Voting Transactions: In chains like Solana, reported TPS often includes validator votes, which are technically transactions but not user-initiated smart contract interactions [00:47:37](00:47:37). Solana’s “true TPS” for user activity is around 500 transactions per second, with votes making up an additional 2,500 or more [00:47:59](00:47:59). Monad will only count real smart contract interactions and transfers in its reported TPS [00:48:21](00:48:21).
- Instruction vs. Transaction: Some chains, like Aptos or Sui, may count individual instructions as transactions, artificially inflating their TPS figures [00:48:57](00:48:57).
- Capacity vs. Demand: Observed TPS reflects current demand, not necessarily the system’s maximum capacity [00:49:39](00:49:39).
- Transaction Size and Complexity: Transactions vary greatly in size and computational intensity. A better metric might be raw bytes per second for throughput, as it abstracts away the “conditionally defined” nature of a “transaction” across different blockchains [00:52:36](00:52:36).
Monad advocates for reproducible benchmarks with publicly available GitHub repositories and scripts that define server deployments and transaction loads to ensure transparency and comparability [00:50:49](00:50:49). For Monad, the benchmark is the historical Ethereum transaction history, as it represents real-life activity [00:52:56](00:52:56).
Long-Term Vision
While performance is Monad’s unique edge now, the team acknowledges that all blockchains will likely become more performant over time through improvements and cross-pollination of ideas [00:38:52](00:38:52). In 10 years, Monad’s differentiation will come from:
- Its community [00:40:12](00:40:12)
- Killer apps built on the platform [00:40:15](00:40:15)
- The evolving research community [00:40:18](00:40:18)
- A commitment to pushing technological limits [00:40:21](00:40:21)
- Maintaining a high degree of decentralization [00:40:26](00:40:26)
Monad’s immediate focus is to deliver “really performant, really accelerated, parallel pipelined Ethereum Virtual Machine” [00:54:07](00:54:07).