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Paradigm Drives $225M Funding Round For Monad Labs, Blockchain Rival To Ethereum, Solana

Venture Capital (VC) firm Paradigm is leading a substantial $225 million funding round for a new Layer 1 (L1) network, that aims to compete with the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. Other notable participants include VC firms Electric Capital and Greenoaks.

According to a recent Fortune Magazine report, Monad Labs, the company behind the blockchain project, aims to compete with established players such as Solana (SOL) and Ethereum and the Layer 1 blockchain protocol Sui (SUI). 

Monad’s Rebuilt Ethereum Blockchain 

Per the report, Monad’s initiative is to rebuild the Ethereum blockchain from the ground up, while retaining the ability to execute smart contracts. The project aims to achieve faster transaction speeds, handle higher volumes, and offer lower costs compared to existing networks. 

Notably, Monad ensures compatibility with Ethereum’s programming infrastructure, known as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This compatibility allows developers to port applications built for Ethereum, ensuring a fluid transition to the new blockchain.

Keone Hon, the founder of Monad, stated in an exclusive interview with Fortune that the company has dedicated approximately two years to developing its blockchain solution. 

Hon noted that Monad Labs stands out by fully supporting the EVM bytecode standard. Developers use this standard to create decentralized applications (dApps) on platforms such as Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, and Optimism. 

According to Avichal Garg, managing partner of Electric Capital, nearly 90% of developers working across various crypto ecosystems focus exclusively on EVM chains. 

This statistic, highlighted in a recent report by Electric Capital, demonstrates the significant appeal of EVM compatibility. Although Monad does not undergo a complete redesign of its programming language like some other blockchains, it still benefits from the widespread usage and familiarity of the EVM.

Blockchain-Powered Exchanges? 

According to the report, Monad plans to launch its mainnet by the end of the year and expects to launch a testnet in the coming months. The company, which currently employs around 30 people, is also looking to launch a native token, although details of its launch alongside the mainnet have not been disclosed.

While Keone Hon emphasized the pursuit of mainstream adoption, he pointed out that Monad’s initial use case is likely to be “high-frequency” trading activity, drawing on his own experience at Jump Trading, a data and research-driven trading firm. 

Hon emphasized the need for a highly performant blockchain to enable exchanges on the scale of Nasdaq or Chicago Mercantil Exchange (CME), which process millions to billions of transactions daily.

Lastly, Hon also highlighted the potential for a blockchain with high transaction capacity and low fees to enable various applications, such as gaming. He cited examples where blockchain-based games, such as RuneScape, require frequent updates of player statistics, necessitating low-cost and fast transactions on the blockchain.

Ethereum

At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $3,497, down nearly 5% in the past 24 hours. 

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com

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Wormhole $617M Airdrop Ignites Valuation Surge To $3B, But W Price Stumbles 23%

Wormhole, a cross-chain communication protocol enabling the transfer of assets between blockchains, recently launched an airdrop campaign for its newly issued governance token, W. Early users were rewarded with 617 million W tokens, and the protocol also released a roadmap outlining its plans.

Wormhole Protocol Unveils Roadmap

According to the protocol’s roadmap, W aims to become a native multi-chain token, leveraging the advantages of both the Solana and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains. 

Initially launched as a native SPL token on Solana, W will reportedly leverage Solana’s performance, offering increased performance, scalability, low transaction costs, and fast settlement times.

After the Solana debut, W will be extended to all Wormhole-connected EVM chains using Wormhole Native Token Transfers (NTT). This framework allows W to continuously roll out across Solana, the Ethereum mainnet, and Layer 2 (L2s) without liquidity fragmentation.

The open-source NTT framework allows projects to control token behavior on each chain, including token standards, metadata, ownership/upgradability, and custom features.

Cross-Chain Governance System

Wormhole also introduces a governance system where token holders on any supported chain can create, vote on, and implement governance proposals. This approach allows maximum participation in the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) by providing a frictionless user experience for token holders distributed across multiple chains. 

As announced, W holders can lock and delegate their tokens on Solana and EVM chains, allowing them to participate in governance decisions. The Wormhole DAO, composed of W token holders, will oversee the Solana, Ethereum mainnet, and EVM L2s governance system.

Wormhole, developed by Jump Crypto, a division of Jump Trading Group, has been under development for several years. Despite encountering challenges, including a significant hack in February 2022 resulting in a loss of approximately $320 million, the protocol has continued to evolve. 

Furthermore, the recent listing of the W token on major exchanges such as Crypto.com and the future support planned by Coinbase on April 4 further validate its progress.

W’s Debut On OpenBook

The W token debuted on the Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) OpenBook at $1.66, with a market capitalization of $2.98 billion and a fully diluted value of $16.5 billion. 

However, the token’s market capitalization and fully diluted value have since fallen to $2.2 billion and $12.5 billion, respectively, according to updated data from CoinGecko. Trading volume for W has remarkably increased, reaching $555,937,593 in the last 24 hours, representing a staggering 25,732,359.60% surge.

Following the airdrop, some users openly shared their sell-offs of the W token on social media platforms, resulting in a 23% price drop. At the time of writing, the token is trading at $1.32.

Wormhole

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com

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INJ Price Soars 13% As Injective Unveils ‘inEVM,’ Ethereum And Solana Integration Expected

In a recent announcement, Layer 2 (L2) protocol Injective (INJ) has reached a major milestone with the launch of its inEVM Layer 2 rollup solution on the mainnet. This technology introduces an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) environment to the Injective ecosystem, opening up new prospects for developers and blockchain interoperability.

By integrating with Ethereum (ETH), Cosmos (ATOM), and Solana (SOL), inEVM establishes a multi-chain ecosystem that combines the advantages of different virtual machine environments.

inEVM For Ethereum, Cosmos, And Solana

According to the March 7 announcement, InEVM, which stands for inEVM Layer 2 rollup solution, allows developers to build applications using the Ethereum programming language Solidity within Injective’s platform.

This technology connects different blockchain networks by achieving composability across Cosmos and Solana. InEVM leverages Caldera as the rollup provider, Hyperlane as the messaging layer, LayerZero for data and asset transfer, Celestia as the Data Availability (DA) layer, and Pyth as the Oracle provider.

These collaborations were reportedly designed to ensure a “secure and robust” environment for developers to deploy their projects.

Furthermore, by incorporating inEVM, Injective will enable Ethereum developers to onboard onto its platform while retaining compatibility with the broader blockchain space. 

As announced, developers can now take advantage of Injective’s benefits, including the protocol’s transaction speeds, near-zero fees, and access to the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) network.

The protocol also claims that InEVM will serve as a sandbox for developers to become familiar with the broader Injective ecosystem, providing a bridge between Ethereum’s EVM world and Injective’s WebAssembly (WASM) backbone.

TimeSwap And Thetanauts Make Waves In Injective Platform

Another key feature of Injective’s inEVM is its stated integration with Caldera, Hyperlane, LayerZero, Celestia, and Pyth, ensuring compatibility with existing smart contract standards, infrastructure, and oracles. 

This integration aims to facilitate interoperability and collaboration across virtual machine environments, paving the way for a “unified blockchain ecosystem.” 

The release states that developers will also benefit from the ability to create synergies and leverage the strengths of Ethereum, Cosmos, and Solana while maintaining true composability and interoperability.

Lastly, the protocol has announced that several projects have already adopted inEVM and deployed on the Injective platform. Notable among them is the TimeSwap lending protocol, which has raised significant funding of over $200 million from investors, including Polychain Capital, Delphi Digital, and Bain Capital Crypto. In addition, Thetanauts, an on-chain options protocol, has also chosen to build on the inEVM.

Injective

Currently, Injective’s native token INJ has seen a notable uptick in price after stagnating and dropping 3% over the past seven days. Currently, INJ is trading at $43.20, up over 13% on announcing the launch of Injective’s inEVM. 

This marks the continuation of the token’s upward trend registered over the rest of the time frames. The token recorded a tremendous surge of over 1240% year-to-date, 37% in the past 30 days, and 23% in the past fourteen days, which led the token to reach its current all-time high (ATH) of $46 on March 2nd.

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com