From: thepipeline_xyz
Monad aims to revamp the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to make it more performant, addressing the execution stack and introducing optimizations like parallel execution [02:02:00]. This core technical ambition forms the bedrock of its user and developer acquisition strategy.
Attracting Developers and Builders
Monad’s approach to attracting developers is rooted in addressing fundamental performance and usability challenges within the EVM ecosystem:
Technical Value Propositions
- Enhanced Composability Monad aims to provide “composability at its finest” [09:27:00], allowing for virtually infinite smart contract calls, unlike limitations seen in other blockchains (e.g., Solana’s CPI depth of three) [09:37:00].
- Overcoming Gas Limitations While the EVM theoretically allows for deep composability, practical gas limits often make complex implementations, such as account abstraction, cost-prohibitive [09:45:00]. Monad seeks to remove these constraints, enabling builders to create advanced applications without hitting gas limits [10:26:00].
- Flexibility for Innovation As an L1, Monad has the flexibility to experiment and add new opcodes, such as BLS pre-compiles, which could unlock features like privacy on the base layer or facilitate ZK-related functionalities without breaking backwards compatibility [10:40:00].
- Reinvigorating the EVM Vision The original vision of Ethereum developers was to create a system where “you really can build anything” [11:39:00]. Monad is designed to accelerate this concept, allowing developers to build anything without the additional constraints that have existed for over a decade [13:22:00].
- Leveraging Existing Ecosystems There is a vast landscape of “pretty solid and fundamental” existing EVM code, ERCs, and EIPs that remain untapped due to practical limitations [14:49:00]. Monad aims to provide the environment where these “money Legos” [15:08:00] can flourish, allowing for richer design space and complex compositions [15:24:00].
Key Applications and Use Cases
Monad’s team is particularly excited about applications in:
- Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Enabling normal people to manage personal finances in a decentralized manner, including money markets, decentralized exchanges, derivatives, and high-fidelity oracles at scale [21:14:00]. This aims to challenge existing financial incumbents by reducing fees and enabling open markets [22:07:00].
- Consumer-Facing Apps: Such as sports betting, on-chain casinos, and social applications. The goal is to facilitate anything that makes sense to run as a phone app [23:01:00].
- Data Sovereignty: Creating a system where users have control over their data in their wallets, enabling context-aware internet experiences similar to web2 but with cryptographic security [23:31:00]. This allows for native, personalized app experiences without prohibitive gas costs [24:47:00]. Examples include advanced NFT standards with in-protocol royalty enforcement or loyalty programs [17:03:00], and event ticketing where each ticket is an NFT [17:55:00].
Building the Team to Tackle the Challenge
Monad Labs is composed of approximately 25 people, a size that often surprises others for an L1 project, but reflects a laser focus on solving critical problems [06:14:00].
The engineering team primarily consists of individuals with extensive experience in building high-performance, low-latency systems, drawing parallels to designing performant databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL, which involve managing many threads, data storage on disk, and caching for fast reads [07:12:00]. This specialized knowledge is crucial for tackling fundamental system-level problems of the EVM [04:03:00].
User Acquisition: A Focus on New Users
Monad’s user acquisition strategy prioritizes bringing in new users to crypto rather than solely migrating existing ones [42:53:00].
- Growing the Pie: The goal is not to threaten or replace Ethereum, but to “grow the not like split up the pieces” [45:34:00]. Monad aims to enable new types of transactions that are cheaper and more plentiful, fostering use cases that couldn’t exist within the current Ethereum environment [42:23:00].
- Compelling Use Cases: The key performance indicator (KPI) for Monad is bringing new people into crypto and encouraging them to use decentralized apps and technology [42:59:00]. This involves delivering “killer apps” that overcome current onboarding hurdles like learning to use browser wallets, moving funds, and securing private keys [43:37:00].
- Web2 Developer Conversion: By showcasing real use cases with user experiences and interfaces similar to web2 applications, Monad hopes to attract web2 developers who might perceive blockchain technology as limiting [35:50:00]. The aim is to create an environment where building a blockchain app is as straightforward as building any other app, enabling them to focus on unique value propositions of decentralization [37:00:00].
Challenges and Advantages in Acquisition
- Funding Challenges: Securing funding for builders, especially international ones, remains a challenge in the crypto space [33:03:00].
- Security Complexity: Building decentralized applications is inherently more challenging from a security perspective due to the adversarial environment and constant probing by black-hat hackers [33:38:00]. Monad aims to mitigate this by reducing gas costs, allowing developers to include more defensive assertions in their code without prohibitive expenses [34:03:00].
- Community Strength: A significant advantage for Monad, and crypto in general, is the strong and engaged community [34:54:00]. Unlike traditional tech startups, crypto projects benefit from eager users and strong community ethos that supports development [35:17:00]. This strong community provides encouragement and feedback daily [08:34:00].
Future Vision and Long-Term Differentiation
While Monad’s immediate edge is its execution performance through a rebuilt, parallelized, and pipelined EVM [40:32:00], this differentiation may evolve over time as other blockchains also improve [38:52:00].
In 10 years, Monad’s distinction will stem from:
- Its vibrant community [40:10:00].
- The “killer apps” built on its platform [40:12:00].
- The evolving research community that benefits from the EVM standard [40:15:00].
- A continued commitment to pushing technological limits while maintaining a high degree of decentralization [40:21:00].
Monad benefits significantly from the broader EVM research community, which allows it to focus on scaling the base layer while leveraging existing developer tooling and innovations like ZK proofs without rebuilding them from scratch [31:29:00]. This collaborative approach, rather than competitive, ensures that Monad contributes to the overall success of the crypto industry by making the EVM standard better and fostering maximum user adoption [30:09:00].