Original author: Grapefruit, ChainCatcher
Original editor: Marco, ChainCatcher
On April 9, Monad Labs, the developer of the Layer 1 network Monad, completed a $225 million financing round with a valuation of $3 billion. This round of financing 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 by Monad recently are the largest cryptocurrency financing so far in 2024. More than 50 institutions and investors participated in the investment, making it another king-level project that deserves the most attention in the crypto community, and also set off a hype craze for "parallel EVM".
Monad is a high-performance Layer 1 network that focuses on the concept of "Parallel EVM". It hopes to improve and enhance the execution efficiency of EVM in the Layer 1 network by introducing "parallel processing" in 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. Currently, users can only participate in it by joining its Discord community. However, its main concept of "parallel EVM" has become popular again with Monad's large financing.
“Parallel EVM”: Optimizing EVM execution efficiency and “horizontally scaling” blockchain performance
"Parallel EVM" can be regarded as a technical fusion of "parallel + EVM compatibility". It is an optimization of the existing EVM network execution layer. In essence, it is a special optimization of the performance of each component of EVM to increase the number of transactions processed per unit time (TPS) or the amount of computing tasks in the network, and solve the current EVM inefficiency problem caused by the sequential execution of transactions.
In a traditional EVM environment, such as Ethereum, each transaction on the chain is executed sequentially. That is, when a user submits multiple transactions, they need to be queued for processing in the order of submission time. Only after the first submitted transaction is confirmed, the later submitted transaction will be processed.
Most high-performance Layer 1s, such as Solana, Aptos, and Sui, are actually based on the defect of Ethereum chain that cannot process transactions in parallel to design their own optimization solutions. However, people pay more attention to the innovation of consensus algorithms and ignore the technical innovation of the execution layer. However, in order to obtain a high-performance public chain, the consensus algorithm and the execution layer need to cooperate with each other. The consensus algorithm can ensure node collaboration and maintain network security, and the execution layer needs to improve the efficiency of processing transactions and executing smart contracts.
Parallel EVM hopes to partition or group all pending transactions, and then rely on scheduling algorithms to effectively manage the synchronous processing of transactions in each zone or group. Its ultimate goal is to allow multiple independent transactions to be executed in parallel at the same time, thereby improving the transaction execution efficiency of the overall Layer 1 network.
For example, Ethereum's EVM is like a one-way street. Cars, electric vehicles, bicycles, and people are all gathered on the same road, driving one after another in the order of queue, which is very congested and chaotic. However, parallel EVM technology can divide this one-way street into multiple lanes such as motor vehicle lanes, non-motor vehicle lanes, bicycle lanes, and sidewalks, and move forward at the same time, improving efficiency while alleviating congestion.
Parallel execution in blockchain means processing unrelated transactions at the same time, such as partitioning or grouping transactions on the chain, such as DEX, NFT, GameFi, etc., so that they can execute transactions in parallel and independently. This also means that different transactions can be executed on different processing units at the same time, instead of queuing in chronological order, greatly improving efficiency.
Solana's SVM and Aptos' STM, which are known for their high performance, all use similar parallel execution processing logic.
Regarding the improvement of blockchain performance by "Parallel EVM", community user Liu said: If the Layer 2/Layer 3 network vertically expands the performance of the Layer 1 network by layering up and down, then the parallel EVM expands the network horizontally by executing different transaction categories or partitions on the chain at the same time, and ensures that the network security and liquidity are unified.
In fact, the "Parallel EVM" narrative is not a new concept. As early as 2022, Polygon PoS announced the completion of the parallel EVM upgrade and tripled its network speed. BSC has also cooperated with NodeReal to develop parallel EVM technology.
However, at that time, people did not pay much attention to the "parallel EVM" technology, but paid more attention to the consensus algorithm of the blockchain network and the Rollup expansion method.
Until the end of 2023, Paradigm CTO Georgios Konstantopoulos, Dragonfly Capital partner Haseeb Qureshi, former Polygon founder Jaynti Kanani (JD) and others said when looking forward to the industry trends in 2024: "2024 will be the year of parallel EVM."
Among them, JD, the former founder of Polygon, said that in 2024, every L2 will be labeled as "Parallel EVM" and re-branded.
The public support from the top VCs has brought a wave of EVM-compatible Layer 1s that use parallel execution technology, such as Sei, Monad, Polygon, etc., and also made the concept of "parallel EVM" a new hot spot pursued by the crypto community.
In March this year, the news that "Solana EVM solution Eclipse received $30 million in financing" caused dissatisfaction among Sei founder Jay, who questioned its excessive hype and the difficulty of ecological development. It also triggered a public and heated debate on the topic of "EVM parallel expansion" among Eclipse founder Neel Somani and Fantom founder AC, making the "parallel EVM" narrative once again the focus of the community.
What are the representative projects of the parallel EVM network?
According to the data from the crypto data platform Rootdata, there are 7 "parallel EVM" concept projects included, including Monad, Sei, Canto, Artelo, Neon, Eclipse, Cipherem, etc.
Developer Pignard said: "A major premise of 'Parallel EVM' is EVM-compatible networks. Although networks such as Solana, Aptos, Fuel, Sui, etc. use 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 categories:
First, the EVM, which did not originally use parallel execution technology, was compatible with Layer 1. Later, the EVM parallel upgrade was completed through technical iteration, and all EVM networks can essentially be upgraded with parallel EVM. For example, Polygon has completed the parallel EVM upgrade in 2022; Fantom's Fantom Sonic upgrade network, which will be launched in April, also introduced parallel execution technology;
Second, EVMs that use parallel execution technology are compatible with Layer 1, such as Monand, Sei V2, and Artela;
Third, Layer 2 networks that use non-EVM Layer 1 parallel execution technology, such as Solana Neon, Eclipse, Lumio, etc., are scalable layer 2 EVM-compatible chains. They abstract EVM into a pluggable execution module and can select the best "VM execution layer" according to needs, thereby achieving parallel capabilities. For example, the Lumio settlement layer in Ethereum can choose to use Solana VM, Move VM, EVM, etc. as the execution layer.
Representative projects in the parallel EVM track 1. Monad, the leader of parallel EVM
Monad is a Layer 1 network area dedicated to solving the scalability problems of traditional EVM. It aims to improve the network transaction processing speed by optimizing EVM such as introducing parallel execution and pipeline architecture, so that its TPS reaches 10,000.
On April 9, Monad completed a $225 million financing led by Paradigm with a valuation of $3 billion. In February last year, it also raised $19 million in the seed round, and the cumulative financing has reached $244 million. It is currently the parallel EVM project with the highest financing and valuation.
Monad's team background also attracts attention. The founding team members come from the market-making giant Jump Trading. Among them, founder Keone Hon was the head of research at Jump Trading and worked in the company for 8 years. Another co-founder, James Hunsaker, is a senior software engineer at Jump Trading and a core maintainer of Pyth Network.
Last September, Monad revealed the network token MON in the project technical documentation it released, but the introduction to MON in the document was subsequently deleted.
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 will launch the parallel EVM network Sei V2 in the first half of the year
Sei was originally a Layer 1 network dedicated to transactions, dedicated to providing advanced infrastructure for various trading applications such as DeFi, DEX, games, etc.
Last November, Sei announced that it would fully upgrade its network and launch Sei V2, becoming the first high-performance parallelized EVM, increasing its TPS to 12,500.
The Sei v2 parallel EVM testnet was launched in February this year. Applications deployed based on EVM can be migrated to the network with one click. It is reported that its parallel EVM network can process thousands of transactions per second, and the mainnet is expected to be launched in the first half of this year.
In March, Sei announced the launch of the Parallel Stack open source framework, which supports the use of parallel processing technology in Layer 2 and Rollup networks.
3. Artela launches EVM++ dual virtual machine to improve execution layer performance
Artela hopes to unlock the scalability of the Layer 1 network by expanding EVM, while supporting EVM parallel execution. It aims to unlock the performance of the EVM blockchain and improve network execution efficiency by building EVM++, or EVM+WASM. The core members of the team come from Ant Chain.
The public testnet is now online, and it is reported that the Artela ecosystem incentive plan Renaissance Plan will be launched in April.
4. Canto plans to introduce parallel EVM technology
Canto is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 network built on the Cosmos SDK and designed specifically for DeFi applications.
In March of this year, Canto announced the Cyclone Stack development plan, which aims to introduce parallel execution of EVM technology to improve its network performance.
5. Neon: Solana EVM Compatibility Solution
Neon EVM is a parallelized EVM built on the Solana network. It is also the first Solana EVM compatible solution. It supports Solidity and Vyper EVM developers to deploy their DApps to the Solana network with one click and enjoy Solana's high throughput and low gas fees.
The specific process is that Neon EVM can wrap transactions similar to those of the EVM network into Solana transactions for operation, and then send them to the Solana network, where transaction data is processed and executed in parallel to increase transaction speed. The network's TPS is now as high as 2000+.
Simply put, Neon EVM builds a software environment for Solana. Through this network EVM, developers can migrate applications to Solana with one click, and transactions are performed in a parallel execution manner on Solana.
6. Eclipse aims to bring SVM to Ethereum
Eclipse is a Rollup Layer 2 modular general solution supported by the Solana virtual machine SVM. That is, the transaction data of the Eclipse network is settled on Ethereum, and ETH is used as the Gas fee on the chain, but the execution layer runs in the SVM environment.
Faced with the performance issues caused by the sequential execution of EVM, contrary to Neon’s idea of introducing EVM into Solana, Eclipse’s strategy is to introduce SVM into Ethereum.
In short, the logic behind the operation of the Eclipse product is: transactions are executed in Solana's SVM, and transaction settlement is still on Ethereum.
On March 11, Eclipse announced the completion of a $50 million Series A round led by Hack VC and others. Currently, Eclipse is in the testnet stage, and on April 9, the official announcement stated that the mainnet will soon be open to developers.
7. Lumio: Modular VM Layer 2
Lumio is a modular VM Layer 2 network built on OP Stack. As it is a member of the Optimism super chain, it is called SuperLumio. It aims to introduce high-performance VMs such as Aptos VM, Move VM, Solana VM into the existing major Ethereum and Bitcoin Layer 2.
The product design logic is similar to that of Eclipse products. Simply put, Lumio supports the use of Ethereum or Bitcoin as its settlement layer, and the execution layer can use virtual machines such as Aptos VM and Solana VM for parallel execution.
Lumio is the mainnet that was launched in February this year
