Monad raised $225 million in financing, reigniting the hype around "parallel EVM." Which other projects are worth paying attention to?

Author: Grapefruit, ChainCatcher

Editor: Marco, ChainCatcher

On April 9, Monad Labs, the developer of the Layer1 network Monad, completed a $225 million financing round at a valuation of $3 billion. This round was led by Paradigm, with participation from well-known institutions such as Electric Capital, Amber Group, Animoca Ventures, Bankless Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Wintermute Ventures.

The funds raised in this recent financing round for Monad represent the largest cryptocurrency financing of 2024 to date, with over 50 participating institutions and investors, making it one of the most noteworthy projects in the crypto community and sparking a wave of hype around the "Parallel EVM."

Monad is a high-performance Layer1 network that focuses on the concept of "Parallel EVM," aiming to improve and enhance the execution efficiency of EVM in Layer1 networks by introducing "parallel processing" at the execution layer.

However, Monad's mainnet will not be deployed until the end of this year, and the testnet is not open to the public yet; current users can only participate by joining its Discord community. Nevertheless, the "Parallel EVM" concept has gained renewed popularity following Monad's significant financing.

"Parallel EVM": Optimizing EVM Execution Efficiency and "Horizontal Scaling" Blockchain Performance

"Parallel EVM" can be seen as a technical fusion of "parallel + EVM compatibility," which optimizes the execution layer of existing EVM networks, essentially focusing on the performance optimization of various EVM components to increase the number of transactions processed per unit time (TPS) or the volume of computational tasks, addressing the inefficiency issues caused by sequential execution of transactions in current EVMs.

In a traditional EVM environment, such as Ethereum, each on-chain transaction is executed in sequence, meaning that when users submit multiple transactions, they must queue up for processing in the order they were submitted. Only after the earlier submitted transactions are confirmed will the later submitted transactions begin to be processed.

Most high-performance Layer1 networks, such as Solana, Aptos, and Sui, are essentially designed to address the shortcomings of Ethereum's inability to process transactions in parallel, although the focus has often been on innovations in consensus algorithms, neglecting technological advancements in the execution layer. However, to achieve a high-performance public chain, both the consensus algorithm and the execution layer need to work together; the consensus algorithm ensures node cooperation and maintains network security, while the execution layer must improve the efficiency of transaction processing and smart contract execution.

The Parallel EVM aims to effectively manage the synchronous processing of transactions by partitioning or grouping all pending transactions and relying on scheduling algorithms. The ultimate goal is to allow multiple independent transactions to be executed in parallel, thereby enhancing the overall transaction execution efficiency of the Layer1 network.

For example, Ethereum's EVM is like a one-lane road where cars, electric vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians all gather on the same lane, moving in a very congested and chaotic manner according to the order of queuing. However, the Parallel EVM technology can divide this one-lane road into multiple lanes, such as motor vehicle lanes, non-motor vehicle lanes, cycling lanes, and pedestrian lanes, allowing for simultaneous movement, thus improving efficiency while alleviating congestion.

In blockchain, parallel execution means processing unrelated transactions simultaneously, such as partitioning or grouping on-chain transactions like DEX, NFT, and GameFi transactions, allowing them to be executed independently in parallel. This also means that different transactions can be executed simultaneously on different processing units rather than being queued in chronological order, greatly enhancing efficiency.

High-performance networks like Solana's SVM and Aptos's STM have adopted similar parallel execution processing logic.

Regarding the improvements in blockchain performance brought by the "Parallel EVM," community user Liu stated: If Layer2/Layer3 networks vertically scale Layer1 network performance through hierarchical layering, then the Parallel EVM horizontally scales the network by categorizing or partitioning different on-chain transactions for simultaneous execution, while ensuring that network security and liquidity are unified.

In fact, the narrative of "Parallel EVM" is not a new concept. As early as 2022, Polygon PoS announced the completion of its Parallel EVM upgrade, doubling its network speed. BSC has also long collaborated with NodeReal to develop Parallel EVM technology.

However, at that time, there wasn't much attention on the "Parallel EVM" technology; the focus was more on the consensus algorithms of blockchain networks and Rollup scaling methods.

Until the end of 2023, Paradigm CTO Georgios Konstantopoulos, Dragonfly Capital partner Haseeb Qureshi, and former Polygon founder Jaynti Kanani (JD) all expressed that "2024 will be the year of Parallel EVM" while looking ahead to industry trends.

Among them, former Polygon founder JD stated that every L2 will be labeled as "Parallel EVM" in 2024, undergoing rebranding.

The public support from leading VCs has sparked interest in EVM-compatible Layer1 projects that have adopted parallel execution technology, such as Sei, Monad, and Polygon, making the "Parallel EVM" concept a new hotspot pursued by the crypto community.

In March of this year, news about "Solana EVM solution Eclipse raising $30 million" led to dissatisfaction from Sei founder Jay, who questioned the excessive hype and the difficulty of ecological development. This triggered a public and intense debate on the topic of "EVM parallel scaling" involving Eclipse founder Neel Somani and Fantom founder AC, bringing the narrative of "Parallel EVM" back into the spotlight of the community.

What are the representative projects of Parallel EVM networks?

According to data from the crypto data platform Rootdata, there are seven recorded projects under the "Parallel EVM" concept, including Monad, Sei, Canto, Artela, Neon, Eclipse, and Cipherem.

Developer Pignard stated: "A major premise of 'Parallel EVM' is that it is an EVM-compatible network. Although networks like Solana, Aptos, Fuel, and Sui have adopted parallel execution, they are not classified as 'Parallel EVM' projects because they are non-EVM networks."

Currently, existing Parallel EVM networks can be divided into three main categories:

1. EVM-compatible Layer1 networks that originally did not adopt parallel execution technology but later completed EVM parallel upgrades through technical iterations. All EVM networks can essentially undergo Parallel EVM upgrades. For example, Polygon completed its Parallel EVM upgrade in 2022; Fantom will launch the Fantom Sonic upgrade network in April, which also introduces parallel execution technology.

2. EVM-compatible Layer1 networks that have adopted parallel execution technology, such as Monad, Sei V2, and Artela.

3. Layer2 networks that adopt non-EVM Layer1 parallel execution technology, such as Solana Neon, Eclipse, and Lumio, which represent scaling Layer2 EVM-compatible chains. They abstract EVM into a pluggable execution module, allowing the selection of the best "VM execution layer" based on demand, enabling parallel capabilities. For instance, Lumio's settlement layer is on Ethereum, and the execution layer can choose to use Solana VM, Move VM, EVM, etc.

Representative Projects in the Parallel EVM Track

1. Parallel EVM Leader Monad

Monad is a Layer1 network dedicated to solving the scalability issues of traditional EVMs, aiming to improve transaction processing speed by optimizing EVM through the introduction of parallel execution and pipelining architecture, targeting a TPS of 10,000.

On April 9, Monad completed a $225 million financing round led by Paradigm at a valuation of $3 billion. In February last year, it raised $19 million in a seed round, bringing its total financing to $244 million, making it the highest-valued and funded Parallel EVM project currently.

The team's background at Monad is also noteworthy, with founding team members coming from the market-making giant Jump Trading. The founder, Keone Hon, was the head of research at Jump Trading for eight years, while co-founder James Hunsaker was a senior software engineer at Jump Trading and a core maintainer of Pyth Network.

In September last year, Monad revealed its network token MON in a published technical document, but the section introducing MON was later removed from the document.

Monad launched its internal testnet in March, and it is reported that the testnet will be open to the public in a few months.

2. Sei to Launch Parallel EVM Network Sei V2 in the First Half of the Year

Sei was originally a Layer1 network specifically designed for trading, aiming to provide advanced infrastructure for various trading applications such as DeFi, DEX, and games.

In November last year, Sei announced a comprehensive upgrade to its network, launching Sei V2, which will become the first high-performance parallel EVM, increasing its TPS to 12,500.

The Sei V2 Parallel EVM testnet went live in February this year, supporting applications based on EVM deployment to migrate to this network with one click. It is reported that its parallel EVM network can process thousands of transactions per second, with the mainnet expected to launch in the first half of this year.

In March, Sei announced the launch of the Parallel Stack open-source framework, supporting Layer2 and Rollup networks to adopt parallel processing technology.

3. Artela Launches EVM++ Dual Virtual Machine to Enhance Execution Layer Performance

Artela aims to unlock the scalability of Layer1 networks by extending EVM while supporting EVM parallel execution. It intends to enhance the performance of EVM blockchains and improve network execution efficiency by building EVM++ (EVM + WASM). The core team members come from AntChain.

The public testnet is now live, and it is reported that Artela's ecological incentive program, the Renaissance Plan, will launch in April.

4. Canto Plans to Introduce Parallel EVM Technology

Canto is an EVM-compatible Layer1 network built on the Cosmos SDK, specifically designed for DeFi applications.

In March this year, Canto announced the Cyclone Stack development plan, aiming to introduce parallel execution EVM technology to enhance its network performance.

5. Neon: Solana EVM Compatibility Solution

Neon EVM is a parallel EVM built on the Solana network and is the first Solana EVM compatibility solution, allowing Solidity and Vyper EVM developers to deploy their DApps to the Solana network with one click, enjoying Solana's high throughput and low gas fees.

The specific process is that Neon EVM can package transactions similar to EVM networks into Solana transactions for operation, and then send them to the Solana network, where they are processed and executed in parallel, improving transaction speed, with the current network TPS exceeding 2000.

In simple terms, Neon EVM creates a software environment for Solana, allowing EVM developers to migrate applications to Solana with one click, and transactions are executed in parallel on Solana.

6. Eclipse Aims to Introduce SVM to Ethereum

Eclipse is a modular general solution for Rollup Layer2 supported by the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), where transaction data settlement occurs on Ethereum, using ETH as gas fees on-chain, but the execution layer runs in the SVM environment.

To address the performance issues caused by the sequential execution of EVM, Eclipse's strategy is the opposite of Neon’s approach of bringing EVM to Solana; instead, it introduces SVM to Ethereum.

In brief, the logic of Eclipse's product operation is: transaction execution occurs in Solana's SVM, while transaction settlement still takes place on Ethereum.

On March 11, Eclipse announced the completion of a $50 million Series A financing round led by Hack VC and others. Currently, Eclipse is in the testnet phase, and on April 9, the official announcement stated that the mainnet will soon be open to developers.

7. Lumio: Modular VM Layer2

Lumio is a modular VM Layer2 network built on the OP Stack and is part of the Optimism Superchain, referred to as SuperLumio. It aims to introduce high-performance VMs such as Aptos VM, Move VM, and Solana VM into existing major Ethereum and Bitcoin Layer2 networks.

In terms of product design logic, it is similar to Eclipse's product. In simple terms, Lumio supports using Ethereum or Bitcoin as its settlement layer, while the execution layer can utilize Aptos VM, Solana VM, and other virtual machines for parallel execution.

Lumio's mainnet went live in February this year.