Monad Attracts AI Talent From Kimi and Zhipu
Monad is actively courting the artificial intelligence sector, hosting a crypto hackathon that drew developers from or associated with prominent Chinese AI firms including Kimi, Zhipu, and Doubao. The event focused on building AI-driven applications within the Monad ecosystem, signaling the blockchain's ambition to become a foundational layer for next-generation decentralized AI. The move places Monad in a competitive field where blockchains are increasingly vying for AI expertise.
This trend is visible across the industry, with competitors like Rayls launching a $1 million developer program and offering $17,500 in prizes at its own EthCC hackathon to attract AI builders. By bringing established AI talent into its ecosystem, Monad is making a direct play to fuse high-performance computing with intelligent applications, aiming to create a distinct advantage in a crowded market.
Coinbase Sale With 85,000 Participants Signals Momentum
Monad's push into AI is backed by significant market momentum and a clear strategic vision. The project recently executed a successful token sale on Coinbase's new launch platform, attracting over 85,000 participants. This strong showing provides both capital and a robust community base to fuel ecosystem development. Keone Hon, CEO of Monad Labs and a former quantitative trading lead at Jump Trading, has emphasized a focus on sustainable growth over manufactured hype.
Unlike many new blockchains that rely on pre-deposit campaigns, Monad has focused on building organic demand. Hon has stated that true growth is driven by genuine user need, not temporary incentives. This philosophy, combined with the project's successful fundraising and community building, provides a solid foundation for attracting high-caliber developers.
TVL growth is really meaningful only when it is driven by organic demand.
— Keone Hon, Co-founder and CEO, Monad Labs
New Architecture Targets 1 Billion Transactions Per Day
The primary draw for sophisticated developers, particularly in AI, is Monad's radical performance targets. The team is re-engineering the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) from the ground up, incorporating optimizations from the world of high-frequency trading (HFT). The goal is to create a parallelized, high-throughput blockchain capable of processing 1 billion transactions per day—a 1,000x increase over Ethereum's capacity.
This level of performance is critical for AI applications, which often require immense computational power and data throughput. By promising sub-second block times and near-instant finality, Monad aims to eliminate the latency that currently impedes complex on-chain operations. This technical ambition makes it a compelling platform for developers looking to build applications that are not feasible on existing blockchain infrastructure.
