Dragonfly-backed Monad is solving the 'most obvious' setback for the DeFi market, says founder

Layer 1s • September 27, 2023, 12:01PM EDT
The Block

Quick Take

  • Monad Labs CEO Keone Hon discusses optimizing the EVM for high-performance trading.

Episode 84 of Season 5 of The Scoop was recorded with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Monad Labs CEO Keone Hon.

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Youtube, Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please send feedback and revision requests to [email protected].

Keone Hon is the founder and CEO of Monad Labs — the development team behind a new Layer-1 blockchain that aims to bring pipelined execution to the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

In this episode, Keone shares how his background at various HFT firms led him to identify problems with existing blockchain infrastructure and ultimately inspired him to rebuild the EVM entirely to optimize it for high-performance trading activity.

Monad has raised $19 million from investors including Dragonfly Capital, Naval Ravikant, Cobie, Hasu and others.

OUTLINE:
03:33 - Monad Overview
05:17 - Another Layer-1?
06:26 - ‘Pipelining’
08:32 - Web3 Social
11:38 - Bridges to Monad
12:11 - High Performance DeFi
13:34 - DeFi Summer 2.0?
16:01 - Monad’s Funding
16:49 - Onchain HFT
19:05 - The Future of Trading
22:55 - Onchain Sports Betting
23:19 - Surviving Crypto Winter
28:30 - Closing Thoughts


© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

AUTHOR

Davis Quinton profile picture Davis Quinton

Davis Quinton is the Director of Podcasts at The Block and runs our flagship podcast called The Scoop, hosted by Frank Chaparro. Since joining The Block as an 'intern' in early 2022, he has worked closely with leaders across departments to translate The Block's written content into engaging multimedia formats. He holds a degree in Social Research & Public Policy from New York University in Abu Dhabi and is based in Sydney, Australia.

See More

AUTHOR

Frank Chaparro profile picture Frank Chaparro

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].

See More

WHO WE ARE

The Block is a news provider that strives to be the first and final word on digital assets news, research, and data.

+ Follow us on Google News
Connect with the block on

More by Davis Quinton

More by Frank Chaparro