Today I had high expectations about Monad in the Morning.
The reason is simple: recently Monad announced that its initial supply will be 100 billion tokens, something quite unusual for layer 1s.
Because of that, I wanted to better understand the reason for this choice.
Below is a summary of today’s program.
Before inviting the guests
Monad Token Supply:
- Initial supply confirmed: 100 billion.
- Goal: ultra-low fees (e.g., 0.01 MON) and easy to calculate mentally.
- Less confusion than values like “0.0000xx”.
Monad Cards:
- Wave 2 closed, no new claims.
“The end is the beginning”: cards now only evolve in utility. - Community asked about “community first”; team replied that the community will have its turn, but cards came first.
Crypto IQ:
- Competitive quiz with a prize of US$ 20,000.
- Access restricted to those with codes → Monad Card holders received access.
- Team distributed some codes via live wheel spins.
Ledger Scare:
- “Supposed backdoor” affecting packages → Ledger’s CEO raised alarms.
- Total losses: only ~US$ 100.
- Conclusion: big noise, minimal impact.
CPI and Market:
- Anyone with +20x leverage got liquidated.
- Prices stayed practically the same.
- Highlight: an NFT pre-sale on Ethereum pushed fees to US$ 100 at peak.
Gemini IPO:
- Intention to raise US$ 400M at a valuation of US$ 3B.
- Could be the 3rd CEX listed in the US (alongside Coinbase and Robinhood).
- Reinforces the narrative: market likes “crypto exposure via stock market”.
Interview 01 – Joe Takayama
- Live from the Founder Residency in Malaysia (Network School).
- Intense experience: daily 1:1s, tough feedback, preparation for demo day and fundraising.
About him:
- Ex-hedge fund / investment banking.
- Created the largest crypto channel in Japan.
- Today: BD & Partnerships at Backpack.
Projects that stood out:
- MU Digital: tokenizing the Asian credit market (opening access to investors beyond institutions).
- Ravo: smart glasses (camera + sensors, Ray-Ban Meta style).
Content:
- Content creation is still a huge opportunity.
- Even saturated, the market is growing (crypto + TradFi).
- Consistency > hype: Joe made 4 videos/day on 2 channels for 2+ years.
- Creators can start small and still attract projects/jobs.
Backpack:
Wallet: became the hosts’ favorite hot wallet (simple, fast, reliable).
Exchange:
- Expanded to EU with MiFID II license (same as GS/MS).
- Second CEX to offer regulated perps in Europe.
- Next targets: Japan and US.
- Monad support confirmed from day 1 of mainnet.
- Message: “world domination” is the vision.
Interview 02 – 0xSins
Cambria – what is it?
- Echo group (community fundraising) dedicated to Monad projects.
- Born 6–7 months ago.
- Model: no carry, only 5% platform fee.
- Goal: give retail early exposure to quality Monad teams.
Selection criteria:
- Social traction and engaged community (signal of strength for retail rounds).
- Public commitment to Monad (social/cultural).
- Team quality and thesis in verticals: Classic DeFi (DEX, perps, aggregators) + Social/consumer/IP.
Philosophy:
- First 6 months post-mainnet are still “warm-up”.
- The real test will come in 1–2 years, when the ecosystem reaches maturity.
- Incentive: community should “make noise” → builders with conviction get noticed and supported.
Reflections:
- Learned at Wormhole Foundation and accelerators that many L1/L2 fail due to lack of focus on builders.
- In Monad, sees clarity and consistency from the top (Keone, James, team).
- This brings confidence that the ecosystem will be built to last.
