Key Highlights
- After one month of Monad mainnet launch, the MON token has dropped over 60% from its ATH and hype around the project remains nothing special.
- The launch saw strong early metrics, including 150,000+ daily active users but on-chain engagement has since waned as incentive-driven activity proved temporary.
- Its limited sustained traction in the competitive blockchain landscape makes it nothing but just another “EVM L1” which is to become a ghost-chain if traction remains the same.
In the hyper-competitive blockchain landscape, very few projects created buzz with as much fanfare as Monad. Backed by a staggering $244 million in funding, including a $225 million round led by Paradigm at a $3 billion valuation, Monad promised revolutionary performance improvements over Ethereum while maintaining full EVM compatibility.
The project was hailed as the “Solana killer” for the Ethereum ecosystem. Its parallel execution model aimed to deliver 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), sub-second block times, and low fees, all without compromising decentralization. But, since its mainnet is now live, did it deliver anything though?
The Hype and the Launch
The culmination arrived on November 24, 2025, when Monad’s public mainnet launched alongside its native MON token. The event was accompanied by a high-profile public sale on Coinbase’s revived token sales platform, raising approximately $188 million at $0.025 per token. It was followed by a substantial airdrop distributing 3.3 billion MON tokens to early community members and testnet participants.
Yet, one month later, as the crypto market navigates the holiday season, Monad’s reality paints a starkly different picture. The MON token, which surged to an all-time high of $0.04876 shortly after launch, has plummeted over 60%, trading around $0.02 as of December 25.
As per DeFillama data, its Total Value Locked (TVL) hovers around $235 million, a modest figure for a chain with such lofty ambitions but not up to the mark while compared to its pre-launch hype. The daily fees barely exceed $5,000, and its initially robust on-chain activity has shown signs of fading. Monad, it seems, is suffering a classic post-mainnet hangover: massive pre-launch hype met with minimal sustained traction.
Where it all starts
Monad’s journey began in 2022, founded by veterans from high-frequency trading firm Jump Trading, which is currently under a massive legal scrutiny. The team re-engineered core components of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and introduced innovations like MonadBFT (a pipelined consensus mechanism), deferred execution, parallel transaction processing, and MonadDB (a custom state database). These allowed Monad to claim unprecedented performance on paper: 10,000 TPS, 0.4-second block times, and 0.8-second finality.
The project’s testnet, launched in February 2025, lived up to much of the promise. It processed billions of transactions, peaked at over 5,000 TPS in real-world stress tests, and attracted hundreds of ecosystem projects. Alongside, developer activity ranked among the top in the industry, and partnerships with Circle, LayerZero, Wormhole, and Chainlink signaled readiness for prime time.
The statistics helped the project with funding poured in, totaling over $240 million from blue-chip investors including Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, and Dragonfly. By mid-2025, Monad was one of the most anticipated launches, with pre-market trading on perpetual platforms valuing MON at premiums implying FDVs north of $5 billion.
The launch strategy was meticulously planned for broad distribution. Coinbase hosted a public sale of 7.5 billion MON (7.5% of total supply) at $0.025, prioritizing smaller buyers with a “fill-from-bottom” allocation model. Simultaneously, an airdrop—which sparked chaos at the time—rewarded over 289,000 wallets, with 70% claimed by launch. Total initial circulating supply hit 10.8 billion tokens, aiming to avoid the concentrated dumps plaguing past launches.
On November 24, at 9:00 AM ET, mainnet went live. Validators activated, dApps migrated from testnet, and MON began trading. Circle announced native USDC support from day one, bolstering stablecoin inflows.
Initial surge at the mainnet launch
No doubt, the first days were electric. MON quickly doubled from its $0.025 ICO price, peaking near $0.049 as retail FOMO kicked in. Trading volumes exploded, with centralized exchanges like Kraken listing from day one. On-chain metrics impressed: nearly 150,000 daily active users in the opening week, millions of transactions processed, and stablecoin market cap surging past $400 million at points.
Notably, gaming and DeFi apps like Lumiterra (an MMORPG) drove viral activity, recording over 100,000 daily unique wallets and millions of daily transactions on Monad. Protocols such as Folks Finance, Kintsu (liquid staking), and emerging lenders like Neverland Money also rolled out incentives, creating a brief flywheel of activity.
Artemis data highlighted strong early usage: 4.7 million transactions in the first weeks, with peaks rivaling established chains. Community sentiment on X was jubilant, with posts declaring Monad the “new king of EVM chains.”
Early post-launch spikes showed 150,000+ active addresses and high transaction counts, but daily figures have normalized lower. TPS, while capable of bursts, averages far below the 10,000 headline in organic usage.
Post-Airdrop Activity: The Fade Begins
Here, the time came where reality set in swiftly. As MON went live for trading, airdrop recipients and ICO buyers faced immediate sell pressure. Despite vesting for larger allocations, the unlocked portions flooded markets. It led profit-taking to rampant levels, exacerbated by spoofing incidents and order-book imbalances.
By early December, MON dipped below ICO price briefly, erasing gains. As of Christmas Eve 2025, it’s down nearly 55% from ATH, with market cap reflecting a painful correction.
While initial users explored free tokens, the post-airdrop engagement waned as sustained activity relied on incentives only. Many dApps, still bootstrapping liquidity, offered yields subsidized by ecosystem funds—but these proved temporary.
TVL Tells the Tale
DeFiLlama tracks Monad’s TVL at approximately $235 million as of December-end, ranking it outside the top 20 chains. Early inflows reached $150 million in week one, but growth stalled. Stablecoin dominance (USDC and others) accounts for much of it, with actual protocol TVL being modest.
Monad’s daily fees: a paltry $4,000-5,000, generating minimal revenue ($1,500-2,000). Compared to Hyperliquid’s millions or even Base’s hundreds of thousands as economic activity remains embryonic on the blockchain. Although its DEX volumes and perpetual open interest are present, no breakout apps are capturing liquidity like Hyperliquid did on its chain.
Just Another EVM L1?
Monad’s core selling point—delivering high-performance, fully EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, and sub-second block times—remains a double-edged sword. This seamless compatibility enables effortless porting of Ethereum dApps, tools, and liquidity, lowering adoption barriers in a developer ecosystem dominated by EVM standards.
However, in a saturated market of EVM chains like Base, Arbitrum, Blast, and Scroll (all benefiting from Ethereum’s security and modular scaling), Monad struggles to stand out purely on technical benchmarks. Plus its competition against non-EVM speed leaders like Solana and Sui also raises the bar for this newcomer, which is largely looking like it’s here to extract value rather than adding any.
Ultimately, on an optimistic side, Monad’s fate hinges on transcending speed claims with a breakout narrative or killer app, such as ultra-low-latency consumer experiences or AI/onchain innovations teased in recent blueprints. As of late December 2025, it risks fading into the crowded pack amid fierce competition and no-such traction.
Welcome to “Ghost Chain” Town
One month in, whispers of “ghost chain” status emerge on X and forums. Low fees are essentially a good thing for blockchain but it leads the project revenue-starved for sustainability. Without viral organic growth, subsidized activity fades, leaving quiet blocks. Comparisons to past hyped L1s (Aptos, Sui post-launch dips) abound, Monad’s TVL-to-FDV ratio is unfavorable, with billions in implied valuation unsupported by fundamentals.
Monad’s trajectory offers cautionary tales for the next wave of hyped L1s. It sets a perfect example that the projects on the verge of being “next Monad,” should heed these to avoid similar hangovers. Throwing VC money for marketing and growth might help initially but long-term goals only could be achieved if the project actually has something value providing. This is not just limited to Monad but other giants like Aptos, Sui, Movement as well.
Key Takeaways
Monad’s story is still unfolding. Its tech is undeniably advanced, and early metrics showed promise. A month of data, however, reveals the chasm between hype and sustained adoption in crypto’s brutal arena.
At ~$0.020, MON reflects disillusionment, but low valuations could attract patient capital if activity rebounds. Its ecosystem grants (38.5% allocation) and upcoming governance may catalyze growth, only if played well. For now, Monad embodies 2025’s L1 reality: building a blockbuster chain requires more than funding and tech—it demands unbreakable user loops in a saturated market.
Also read: Aave’s Governance Meltdown: The Conflict on Brand, Fees, and Ownership
