Monad Ecosystem Guide: Native Liquid Staking / Native DEX Part Two
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Monad Ecosystem Guide: Native Liquid Staking / Native DEX Part Two
This report thoroughly explores the technical architecture, innovative mechanisms, and unique value proposition of Monad's native liquid staking protocol.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Harvey C
Monad Ecosystem Guide Series (Introduction to Native Projects in the Monad Ecosystem)
Monad Ecosystem Guide: Native DEX/Perp Preview
Monad is a high-performance, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain designed for high throughput and low latency. Its technical foundation addresses long-standing issues in traditional staking—such as limited liquidity and inefficient capital utilization—by enabling innovative liquid staking solutions that deliver a more efficient staking experience for users.
Native liquid staking projects within the Monad ecosystem—including Magma, Kintsu, and aPriori—leverage Monad’s unique architecture to offer advanced functionality and seamless integration. These protocols aim to enhance liquidity, improve staking efficiency, and provide a more user-friendly staking experience.
Magma plans to introduce a DAO-governed liquid staking protocol utilizing Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) to enhance security and decentralization, extending beyond existing Ethereum implementations. Kintsu emphasizes composability, aiming to enable staked assets to interact with and participate in DeFi applications across the Monad network. Meanwhile, aPriori integrates Miner Extractable Value (MEV) strategies into its design to optimize staking rewards and positions itself as a native Jito alternative on Monad.
This report provides an in-depth analysis of the technical architectures, innovative mechanisms, and unique value propositions of these native Monad liquid staking protocols, offering comprehensive insights for developers and cryptocurrency users to understand and engage with the latest developments in the Monad ecosystem.
The second part of this report focuses on other native decentralized exchange (DEX) projects within Monad, complementing the content covered in the previous report. It should be noted that these two reports only cover publicly disclosed projects. Many other promising projects have not yet released detailed information, which we will explore in greater depth in future articles.
Native Liquid Staking Projects:
Magma @MagmaStaking is a DAO-owned liquid staking protocol developed by Hydrogen Labs for the Monad ecosystem. It aims to enhance token distribution fairness through ecosystem incentive airdrops and maximize the performance of the Monad network. Additionally, it introduces the first implementation of Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) outside of Ethereum.
Key Features of Magma:
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gMONAD Liquid Staking: Magma allows holders of MONAD tokens to stake their tokens and receive gMONAD, a liquid staking token representing their staked assets. This enables users to earn staking rewards while maintaining liquidity, allowing them to participate in other DeFi activities within the Monad ecosystem.
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Distributed Validator Technology (DVT): As the first distributed validator outside Ethereum, Magma aims to strengthen network security and decentralization. By distributing validator responsibilities among multiple participants, this design reduces single points of failure and fosters a more robust staking infrastructure on Monad.
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Delegation to Top Validators: Magma optimizes staking rewards and network security by delegating staked MONAD tokens to the highest-performing validators on the network. This strategy aligns incentives and leverages the expertise of established validators.
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MEV Rewards: Monad validators generate MEV revenue by bidding for block space through Magma's auction mechanism. These rewards are shared with stakers, thereby increasing their annual percentage yield (APY).
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Fair Token Distribution via Points Program: Magma employs a Points Program to ensure fair token distribution. Participants can accumulate Magma Points and become part of a decentralized liquid staking DAO within the Monad community. This approach promotes balanced governance rights by rewarding contributors and encouraging ecosystem participation.
In October 2024, Magma announced a $3.9 million seed funding round led by Bloccelerate, Animoca Ventures, CMS Holdings, Maelstrom, Veil VC, Builder Capital, Infinity Ventures, RockTree Capital, Wise3 Ventures, Stake Capital, and Relayer Capital. The round also included participation from prominent angel investors such as Meltem Demirors, Kartik Talwar, Mike Silagadze, Alan Curtis, and Ben Lakoff. The funds will support the development of Magma’s liquid staking platform and its Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) architecture, enhancing the functionality and efficiency of the Monad network. Furthermore, Magma plans to collaborate with Ether.fi to explore restaking integration on Monad, further expanding the ecosystem.
Magma’s proposed “Liquid Layer Theory” aims to expand the economic security of Monad by leveraging liquid staking pools. These mechanisms not only strengthen network security but also propagate it across interconnected layers. Through these innovations, Magma seeks to deliver a comprehensive, user-centric liquid staking solution that encourages community involvement and contributes to the security and growth of the Monad ecosystem.
Kintsu @Kintsu_xyz is a next-generation liquid staking protocol built on the Monad blockchain, aiming to enhance liquidity, accessibility, and user engagement within the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) ecosystem.
Key Features of Kintsu:
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sMONAD and Capital Efficiency: Users who stake their MONAD tokens via Kintsu receive sMONAD in return. This liquid staking token (LST) represents staked assets and accrues staking rewards over time. Unlike traditional staking, sMONAD remains liquid, enabling users to continue earning rewards while participating in various DeFi activities.
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Enhanced Liquidity and Composability: Kintsu’s LSTs seamlessly integrate with DeFi protocols, gaming platforms, and other dApps within the Monad ecosystem. This composability allows users to maximize the utility of their staked assets, fostering a more dynamic and interconnected DeFi environment. Lending Platforms: sMONAD can serve as collateral in lending protocols, improving capital efficiency and offering users additional income streams. Decentralized Stablecoins: sMONAD is ideal collateral for decentralized stablecoins on Monad, supporting stability and growth in the DeFi ecosystem. Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) DEXs: Kintsu’s LSTs enhance liquidity and trading efficiency on CLOB DEXs, enabling better price discovery and reduced slippage.
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Decentralized Validator Registry: Kintsu maintains a decentralized validator registry to ensure staking is distributed across a diverse set of network participants, enhancing both security and decentralization.
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Integration with Automated Market Makers (AMMs): Kintsu’s sMONAD can be used within AMMs on the Monad network, boosting liquidity pools, reducing slippage, and improving trading efficiency. This integration creates higher yields for liquidity providers and delivers a more efficient market environment for traders. Kintsu’s innovative architecture offers a new way for users to participate in PoS on Monad, injecting fresh vitality and possibilities into the broader DeFi ecosystem through efficient liquidity management and decentralized design.
In July 2024, Kintsu successfully raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Castle Island Ventures. Other participating institutions include Brevan Howard Digital, CMT Digital, Spartan Group, Breed VC, CMS Holdings, and Animoca Ventures. Notable angel investors joining the round include Alex Matthews and Ross Trachtman from Brevan Howard Digital, Marin Tvrdic from Lido, and Robinson Burkey from Wormhole Foundation.
Kintsu provides a comprehensive solution to the limitations of traditional staking—such as illiquidity and restricted DeFi participation—allowing users to maintain flexibility and earning potential while staking their assets. Through deep integration with the Monad ecosystem, Kintsu enhances the vitality and efficiency of the Monad network, fueling the growth of its DeFi landscape.
is a native liquid staking protocol in the Monad ecosystem exploring the integration of MEV optimization with liquid staking solutions. This approach aims to improve network performance, potentially reduce gas fees, and provide sustainable incentives for validators.
Core Features of aPriori:
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MEV-Based Liquid Staking: aPriori combines liquid staking with MEV optimization to deliver higher returns for both validators and stakers. By capturing MEV more efficiently, aPriori aims to improve overall yields while contributing to the economic stability of Monad.
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Efficient MEV Marketplace: aPriori aims to create an MEV marketplace that reduces network congestion and spam transactions. By optimizing transaction ordering, the project seeks to enhance user experience and promote a more transparent and efficient method of MEV extraction, generating potential benefits for the entire ecosystem.
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High-Performance Architecture: Leveraging Monad’s high-throughput, parallel EVM environment, aPriori delivers scalability and performance through its innovative architecture, meeting growing user demands.
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Integration with DeFi Applications: aPriori’s liquid staking token (LST) is designed to enable interoperability with other DeFi applications within the Monad ecosystem. This approach increases liquidity and unlocks new opportunities for users to leverage their staked assets.
In July 2024, aPriori announced an $8 million seed round led by Pantera Capital, bringing its total funding to $10 million. This follows a pre-seed round co-led by Hashed and Arrington Capital. The funds will be used for team expansion, enhanced security measures, and community engagement initiatives.
Participating institutions in the seed round include ABCDE Capital, Chorus One, CMS Holdings, Consensys, Everstake Capital, Flow Traders, Laser Digital (Nomura), Manifold Trading, OKX Ventures, Selini Capital, Staking Facilities, and Vessel Capital. Angel investors include Adam Jin, Alex Esin, Hongbo Tang, Karthik Raju, Marc Tillement, Mike Silagadze, Nom, Paul Kim, Rex, Robinson Burkey, Spencer Noon, Tim Wang, TN Lee, and Zano Sherwani.
aPriori is committed to advancing staking protocols through Monad’s parallel execution environment while optimizing MEV and staking yields. By addressing technological and economic inefficiencies in traditional Proof-of-Stake (PoS) systems, aPriori positions itself as a key contributor to the Monad ecosystem. Its design aligns with Monad’s high-performance capabilities, aiming to deliver tangible benefits to stakers, validators, and the broader Monad DeFi community.
Additional Native DEX Projects in the Monad Ecosystem:
Perpl @perpltrade is a fully on-chain DEX developed within the Monad ecosystem, leveraging Monad’s parallel EVM architecture to enhance trading efficiency. By delivering deep liquidity, fast execution, and settlement, Perpl aims to address the speed and efficiency challenges commonly faced by traditional DEXs, while maintaining a strong focus on decentralization and security.
Perpl’s Core Features:
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Deep Liquidity and Efficient Pricing: Perpl uses a native pricing engine designed to foster competitive on-chain market dynamics, providing traders with optimal prices. This approach encourages more on-chain asset issuance and community-driven distribution, enhancing overall market efficiency.
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High Performance and Scalability: Built on Monad’s parallel EVM architecture, Perpl leverages the blockchain’s high throughput and low latency to enable rapid trade execution and settlement. This infrastructure supports a scalable trading environment capable of efficiently handling high transaction volumes.
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Enhanced User Experience (UX): Perpl prioritizes user experience by combining speed, efficiency, and an intuitive interface to meet the needs of both novice and experienced traders, simplifying navigation and trade execution.
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Composability and Transparency: Perpl’s open architecture promotes seamless integration with other DeFi protocols, fostering composability within the ecosystem. This openness enhances transparency and empowers developers to build innovative financial products on top of Perpl.
Perpl adheres to a “no shortcuts” philosophy, prioritizing decentralization, security, and user-centric design. By integrating with Monad’s parallel EVM, Perpl aims to overcome challenges associated with centralized sequencers and multisig-controlled protocols, striving to build a trustless and highly resilient trading environment.
Perpl aims to advance the development of the Monad DEX ecosystem by offering a fully on-chain solution centered on deep liquidity, fast execution, and intuitive user experience. Leveraging Monad’s blockchain infrastructure, Perpl positions itself as a new benchmark for decentralized exchanges, providing traders with an efficient and reliable alternative to traditional centralized exchanges.
Mace @mace_ag is the first native DEX aggregator on the Monad ecosystem, aiming to revolutionize DeFi by enhancing trading efficiency, liquidity access, and user experience.
Mace’s Core Features
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Comprehensive Liquidity Aggregation: Mace aggregates liquidity from multiple sources across the Monad ecosystem, delivering efficient trade execution and reduced slippage. By scanning various liquidity pools, Mace identifies optimal trading paths and automatically routes orders across multiple pools to improve price efficiency.
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Cost Optimization via Off-Chain Computation: Mace utilizes a Rust-based backend system to perform compute-intensive operations off-chain, aiming to reduce on-chain gas fees. This approach processes transaction calculations off-chain and executes only the final optimized path on-chain, potentially improving speed and ensuring computational accuracy.
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Integration with CEX Liquidity: Mace incorporates off-chain liquidity from centralized exchange market makers using a Request-for-Quote (RFQ) system. This feature is tailored for large-volume trades of major assets, aiming to increase capital efficiency and offer tighter spreads.
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Execution Powered by Monad’s Parallel EVM: Leveraging Monad’s parallel EVM architecture, Mace enables simultaneous processing of multiple transactions to deliver fast execution and minimal latency. This parallelization ensures superior performance even during peak network usage.
Mace fosters an active community through its Points Program, which rewards user engagement on the platform. The protocol emphasizes security, employing a suite of smart contracts to efficiently execute optimized trading paths. Additionally, Mace plans to launch a governance token to encourage community participation and create long-term value for token holders.
Leveraging Monad’s technical infrastructure, Mace aims to become a key contributor to the Monad DeFi ecosystem, delivering a simplified, efficient, and cost-conscious trading experience for users.
is a DEX built on Monad, providing a platform for token swaps, liquidity provision, and participation in token launch events. Monadex integrates gamified elements and user-friendly features to make decentralized exchanges more engaging and accessible, targeting both experienced traders and blockchain newcomers.
Monadex’s Core Features
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Customizable AMM: Monadex’s Automated Market Maker (AMM) supports customizable fee tiers, allowing pool creators to adjust fees based on specific pool characteristics. Additionally, liquidity providers (LPs) can supply liquidity using just a single token, simplifying the process and lowering entry barriers. Monadex also supports multi-asset swaps, enabling users to exchange one asset for multiple others—or vice versa—enhancing trading flexibility.
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Gamified Lottery System: Monadex integrates a lottery system into its AMM, where users earn lottery tickets through token swaps and can participate in weekly draws to win prizes. This feature adds an element of fun and interactivity to the trading experience.
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Governance and Community-Driven Development: Monadex positions itself as a community-centered exchange, aligned with user values and Monad’s culture. Its governance framework empowers the community to influence the platform’s evolution, promoting an ecosystem-first development model.
Monadex aims to become a key liquidity hub within the Monad ecosystem, providing accessible tools to help new users and developers easily join the ecosystem. By incorporating gamification, offering flexible liquidity options, and fostering community participation, Monadex strives to create a more interactive and accessible decentralized exchange experience.
is an EVM-compatible AMM-based decentralized exchange (DEX) that supports both Concentrated Liquidity Market Making (CLMM) and traditional AMM models. By integrating a liquidity aggregator, TayaSwap aims to provide deeper liquidity for DeFi assets, improving trading efficiency and user experience.
TAYA’s Core Features:
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Prediction Markets and Voting Mechanism: TAYA introduces a pm-AMM model specifically designed for prediction markets and related voting functions, enabling seamless and fair predictive activities within the platform.
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Customizable DeFi Solutions: TAYA’s architecture supports user-defined financial products suitable for various use cases, including Memecoins, KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders), and trading bots.
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DApp-as-a-Service (DaaS): TAYA offers a no-code platform for creating customized exchanges. This feature enables users to easily build and deploy tailored exchanges, integrate with other platforms, and manage assets more efficiently.
TAYA aims to leverage Monad’s high-performance blockchain infrastructure to deliver a scalable and user-friendly DeFi platform. By focusing on customizable solutions and innovative features, TAYA seeks to establish a significant presence within the evolving Monad DeFi ecosystem.
Octoswap @OctoSwapDex is a DEX built on the Monad ecosystem, dedicated to providing a secure, efficient, and user-friendly platform for token swapping and liquidity provision. Its mission is to make DeFi more accessible and enjoyable, emphasizing community-driven development and gamified features.
OctoSwap’s Core Features:
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Instant Token Swaps: OctoSwap enables users to seamlessly swap tokens with just a few clicks. The platform’s streamlined process ensures fast, secure, and easy transactions with precise pricing and low trading costs.
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Liquidity Mining: Users can contribute liquidity to OctoSwap’s pools by depositing tokens and earn rewards generated from trading fees. This incentivizes liquidity providers and enhances overall platform liquidity and user engagement.
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Gamified DeFi Experience: OctoSwap introduces unique gamification features designed to make DeFi more fun and interactive. While specific details remain undisclosed, the platform emphasizes community participation and plans to integrate elements that reward user engagement and loyalty.
Built on Monad’s high-performance infrastructure, OctoSwap leverages the blockchain’s speed and security to deliver a powerful DeFi platform. With its user-centric design and commitment to community-driven development, OctoSwap emerges as a key participant in the evolving DeFi ecosystem.
Conclusion
The native staking ecosystem on Monad is undergoing significant growth, with projects like Magma, Kintsu, and aPriori pioneering liquid staking solutions that harness Monad’s high-performance capabilities. These initiatives aim to meet user needs by improving user experience, enhancing capital efficiency, and introducing innovative staking mechanisms. As these projects progress, they are poised to make substantial contributions to the evolution of DeFi and network security on Monad.
We welcome more Chinese-speaking builders to explore Monad’s technological innovations and join our ecosystem. Below are relevant links and community channels for Monad. Feel free to contact us at Gmonad.
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