Why Does The EVM Struggle to Scale?

Traditional EVM-based blockchains execute transactions sequentially, even when they touch unrelated parts of the state. This linear process underutilizes multi-core processors and creates a bottleneck at the execution layer, limiting throughput regardless of consensus improvements. During high demand, validators may face growing transaction backlogs as a result.

Introducing Parallel Execution

Parallel execution fundamentally changes this dynamic, enabling validators to process multiple transactions simultaneously using modern multi-core processors. With this in mind, let’s explore how Monad brings parallel execution to the EVM.

How Monad Handles Parallel Execution

Monad’s approach to parallel execution begins with its unique consensus design, which lays the foundation for a safe and efficient execution layer.

Decoupling Consensus and Execution

In traditional EVM-based blockchains like Ethereum, consensus tightly couples block production and execution, requiring validators to execute transactions before finalizing and propagating the block. This process leads to a bottleneck that limits the chain's overall throughput and scalability.

Monad introduces a unique solution to this issue by decoupling consensus from execution. Its consensus mechanism, MonadBFT, finalizes the block solely based on the order of transactions.

Transactions in the block are executed separately from consensus in an asynchronous manner, enabling greater system flexibility and significantly higher throughput. This separation allows Monad to achieve 1-second finality, with blocks produced every 500 milliseconds.

Introducing Optimistic Parallel Execution

During execution, Monad uses optimistic parallel execution, processing multiple transactions simultaneously, assuming they access independent parts of the state. If a conflict is detected, such as two transactions attempting to modify the same account, Monad re-executes the affected transactions to maintain consistency. In the end, all updated states for valid transactions are merged to ensure each transaction can be sequentially verified after parallel execution.

How Monad Improves EVM Performance and Speed

To further optimize performance, Monad avoids repeating certain computationally expensive tasks during re-execution. Actions like signature recovery, for example, are computed before any interaction with on-chain state; therefore they can be safely cached in case of a re-execution, saving valuable compute resources for validators.

Developer Impact and Use Cases of Monad

Performance Gains and Benefits

Developers onboarding to the Monad blockchain benefit from high performance and seamless compatibility. Thanks to Monad’s native EVM compatibility, Solidity developers can easily migrate existing applications or build entirely new ones without changing their toolset. Existing EVM wallets and address formats are fully supported, allowing developers to deploy using their original Ethereum addresses.

Monad also supports smart contracts that are more than five times bigger in size than those on Ethereum, enabling more complex and feature-rich application logic tailored to specific business needs.

Monad offers significantly lower gas fees and faster transaction finality for end users. They can interact with Dapps on Monad using the wallet they already use across other EVM ecosystems, creating a smooth and familiar user experience.

Potential Blockchain Applications on Monad

Monad blockchain unlocks a wide range of use cases that are challenging to build on traditional EVM chains.

These include:

1. A fully on-chain limit order book that matches orders on-chain.

2. Gaming and real-time applications that demand speed and low fees.

3. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) require complex logic.

4. Automated vault strategies and yield optimizers.

Monad vs Other Blockchains

Monad takes a fundamentally different approach to scalability by optimizing performance at the base layer to eliminate the need for Layer 2 solutions. While Ethereum relies heavily on L2s to process more transactions, and other high-performance blockchains often introduce new virtual machines or smart contract languages, Monad achieves scalability natively, within a single monolithic architecture, without sacrificing EVM compatibility.

This design also reduces complexity for developers and users. Builders don't need to worry about fragmented liquidity, cross-chain messaging, or bridging risks often associated with L2 ecosystems. Monad simplifies deployment and enhances UX for both developers and users by offering scalability and composability within one environment.