Preface
In a recent Blankless podcast about MegaETH vs Monad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qZbLyHPErg), the discussion between Lei Yang and Keone Hon sparked widespread heated discussion, and the definition of Full node attracted countless media discussions.
This article will sort out the ins and outs of MegaETH vs Monad, and introduce and analyze them respectively as well as our opinions on them.
MegaETH vs Monad
The discussion of MegaETH and Monad in the podcast mainly revolves around the similarities and differences between the two, how to achieve decentralization and censorship resistance, and the definition of Full Node.
Similarities and differences between MegaETH and Monad
When it comes to the similarities between MegaETH and Monad, the first is that they both share the same original intention - a high-performance public chain. They both believe that the current Ethereum Layer1, which processes 10-15 transactions per second, can no longer meet the performance requirements of the current industry, but EVM has been verified by the market for a long time and has become an important standard in the industry. Although the current EVM may be lacking in certain aspects such as performance bottlenecks, there are no fundamental defects. Over time, continuous improvements to the EVM will make it better, which is why both choose to build on the EVM.
The differences between MegaETH and Monad are mainly reflected in the following two aspects:
Different goals: MegaETH pursues extreme high performance; Monad aims to obtain maximum performance from minimal hardware requirements while ensuring decentralization as much as possible.
Different architecture: Based on the above goals, MegaETH conducted a survey of all current Layer1 and Layer2, and finally found that it is impossible to achieve extreme high performance and balance performance and decentralization in Layer1, so it chose to build MegaETH on ETH Layer2 and perform partial optimization; Monad resolutely chose to build a Layer1 on the premise of ensuring decentralization to the greatest extent and optimize it at different structural levels such as database, efficiency, execution, and algorithm.
Decentralization and censorship resistance
Before realizing a high-performance public chain, both MegaETH and Monad considered how to do this while ensuring decentralization.
From the specific implementation point of view, Monad optimizes hardware and network settings to achieve the minimum hardware requirements, so that everyone can easily run a node, thereby achieving decentralization. This is mainly because Monad believes that the original Ethereum network has high operating requirements. Monad wants to directly optimize various structures in the network so that lower-end consumer-grade hardware can also run, lower the threshold for user participation, and realize Vitalik’s ideal that "everyone can run a node".
MegaETH optimizes performance and reduces hardware costs for users by splitting the responsibilities of full nodes into different roles. Traditional full nodes need to perform multiple tasks in the blockchain network, such as state synchronization, transaction sorting and execution, etc., so the hardware requirements are high and many ordinary users cannot afford it. However, MegaETH splits these tasks into three roles: sequencer, prover, and full node, each of which is only responsible for specific tasks. This division reduces the burden on individual nodes and reduces the requirements for hardware, allowing everyone to run nodes and improve decentralization. MegaETH has also optimized computing and state reading and writing to further improve performance. At the same time, the decentralization of MegaETH mainly relies on the existing decentralized foundation of Ethereum Layer1, because Ethereum itself has tens of thousands of full nodes and is highly decentralized.
In comparison, Monad has a stronger belief in decentralization, and all improvements and optimizations need to ensure sufficient decentralization; MegaETH believes that decentralization is only one of its characteristics, so it chooses to rely on the market-proven security of Ethereum Layer1 as a guarantee, and puts more focus on how to improve performance.
In general, Monad optimizes the underlying structure of the blockchain network, while MegaETH reasonably allocates the hardware requirements for node operation and optimizes the network's existing execution, communication and other aspects.
In this discussion, Lei also repeatedly mentioned the term censorship resistance, which means that transactions and data on a blockchain cannot be easily censored, manipulated or suppressed by any single party. In this respect, MegaETH and Monad are also quite different. Although MegaETH uses a single active sorter to verify all transactions in the entire network, it relies on tens of thousands of verification nodes in Ethereum Layer1 to ensure the censorship resistance of the network; while Monad ensures the censorship resistance of the network by lowering the threshold for node operation and increasing the number of network nodes in operation.
Full Node Definition
In the process of discussing the question of "who has a higher degree of decentralization", Lei and Keone had different opinions on the definition of Full Node. The reason for the disagreement was mainly due to the different starting points of their expressions.
The full node mentioned by Lei of MegaETH refers to the full node role in the system after MegaETH decouples and splits the full node role. Its main responsibility is to synchronize the latest state copy of the system, but it is not responsible for executing all transactions in the system. The full node mentioned by Keone of Monad refers to the broad definition of full node, that is, a node that can access all states and execute all transactions. Since everyone did not know in advance that MegaETH had made the improvement of node splitting, ambiguity arose.
Introduction and Analysis of MegaETH and Monad
MegeETH and Monad are emerging representatives of high-performance public chains. This section will introduce and analyze their technical characteristics, community culture, advantages and disadvantages to help readers better understand the positioning and development direction of these two projects.
MegaETH: Improving performance through node specialization
In terms of technical features, one of MegaETH's core innovations is to professionally split the responsibilities of traditional full nodes, which is called node specialization. Usually, full nodes undertake multiple tasks, including state synchronization, transaction sorting, execution, etc., resulting in high hardware requirements and hindering the participation of ordinary users. MegaETH divides nodes into three categories: sequencers, certifiers, and full nodes, each with its own responsibilities, thereby significantly reducing hardware requirements and improving overall performance. In addition, MegaETH has also introduced a series of optimization technologies to further improve the efficiency of computing and state processing:
Real-time EVM engine: MegaETH introduces the first real-time EVM execution engine, capable of processing large volumes of transactions quickly as they arrive and reliably publishing state diffs in intervals as short as 10 milliseconds.
Smart Contract Just-in-Time Compilation: Using Just-in-Time Compilation (JIT) technology, smart contracts are dynamically converted into native machine code, eliminating the inefficient process of interpreting EVM bytecode. This technology can improve the performance of computationally intensive applications by up to 100 times and is suitable for building complex DApps with high real-time performance requirements.
State tree improvement: MegaETH replaces the traditional Merkle Patricia Trie (MPT) with a new state tree, which greatly reduces disk I/O operations and solves the performance bottleneck in state tree maintenance. This new design not only maintains EVM compatibility, but also can efficiently expand to TB-level state data.
State Synchronization Protocol: MegaETH uses an efficient peer-to-peer protocol to propagate state updates from the sorter to full nodes with low latency and high throughput, allowing even nodes with poor network connections to keep the latest state synchronized at an update rate of 100,000 TPS.
In terms of community culture, MegaETH focuses on its community culture construction. The rabbit as its mascot frequently appears in various community activities, and related peripheral products such as T-shirts and hats also create a sense of belonging for community members. In addition, MegaETH has incubated a brand called MegaMafia, which aims to provide support to developers and ecosystem builders to help them build projects or design ecosystem peripherals on MegaETH. In order to motivate developers, MegaETH launched the 10x Builders program to promote the construction of high-performance projects on its platform.
Therefore, MegaETH has the following three advantages:
Node specialization: Effectively allocate hardware resources, reduce the pressure on individual nodes, and lower the hardware entry threshold.
Relying on the security and censorship resistance of Ethereum Layer1: MegaETH maintains the decentralization and censorship resistance of Ethereum, while focusing on the performance optimization of Layer2, achieving a balance between performance and security.
Focus on developer experience: Encourage developers to participate in ecosystem construction through various tools and ecosystem plans, and lower the threshold for user participation.
However, it should be noted that MegaETH has a potential security risk, that is, its network relies on a single active sorter to verify transactions. Although a certain degree of security is provided through optimistic Rollup and economic models, it is essentially a trust assumption, which may affect the decentralization and security of the system in extreme cases.
Monad: Breaking through the limitations of Ethereum architecture
The core highlight of Monad in terms of technology lies in its in-depth optimization of the blockchain architecture. By introducing the following four major technological innovations, transaction processing efficiency has been greatly improved. Consumer-grade hardware can also participate in the operation of network nodes, significantly lowering the threshold for participation, making the Monad ecosystem more open and popular:
Parallel execution: The original transaction execution is to execute the next transaction after the completion of a complete transaction. Monad achieves parallel processing by dividing the task into a series of smaller tasks that can be processed in parallel, and can also solve the problems of state storage, transaction processing and distributed consensus in the transaction processing process. As shown in the figure below, when washing four pieces of clothes, the simplest strategy is to wash, dry, fold and store the first piece of clothes first, and then start the second piece of clothes. The parallel mechanism of Monad is to start washing the second piece of clothes when the first piece of clothes enters the dryer.
Image source: https://docs.monad.xyz/technical-discussion/concepts/pipelining
MonadBFT: Simply put, it is the above-mentioned consensus mechanism that is executed in parallel, which is more efficient than the traditional Byzantine consensus mechanism.
Delayed execution: The traditional process of on-chain transactions is 1) the node completes the transaction execution first 2) the verification node reaches consensus on the transaction on-chain. The performance bottleneck in this process is mainly in the execution part. Delayed execution can verify and then execute the transaction within a certain time range, greatly improving the efficiency of on-chain transactions.
MonadDB: Innovates the database used by most Ethereum clients to improve state access efficiency and better support parallel execution of transactions.
The Monad community is also not to be overlooked. The three mascots, unique community slogans and Meme culture have formed a distinct brand image. Unlike other projects, Monad does not rely on task platforms or testnet nodes for marketing, but interacts with users through a variety of community activities, creative competitions and mini-games.
Therefore, Monad has the following three advantages:
Breaking through the bottleneck of Ethereum architecture: Monad is not limited by the original design of Ethereum. It can perform underlying optimization while maintaining EVM compatibility, allowing consumer-grade hardware to participate in the network.
EVM compatibility: Monad can directly leverage the existing EVM ecosystem, helping developers migrate and build DApps more easily.
High community activity: Monad has accumulated a group of loyal community users, and good community culture provides a solid foundation for ecological development.
However, the current number of Monad's verification nodes is still small compared to the number of Ethereum nodes, about 200-300. Over time, large-scale expansion may pose new challenges to its parallel processing capabilities and network consistency. When the number of nodes increases further, whether Monad can continue to maintain its high performance and how effective its performance improvement is remain to be verified.
Summarize
MegaETH and Monad each promote the optimization and development of blockchain networks through different paths. MegaETH maintains the decentralized foundation of Ethereum and achieves significant improvements in performance through node specialization and optimization of existing architecture. Monad lowers the hardware threshold by optimizing the underlying architecture while ensuring decentralization, and provides the community with an efficient development experience.
Therefore, Eureka Partners believes that it is not possible to draw a conclusion about which one is stronger between MegaETH and Monad. Firstly, the two have different perspectives. MegaETH pursues extreme performance, while Monad is committed to maintaining decentralization and lowering the user threshold. Secondly, the two have completely different routes. MegaETH is Layer2, while Monad is Layer1.
But one thing is certain: the high-performance public chain track they are pursuing will be one of the future development trends of the industry. The low efficiency and high cost of the current infrastructure have always been criticized by everyone, and it has restricted the entry of many DApps with high-frequency interaction needs. The arrival and improvement of high-performance public chains in the future will gradually make up for this shortcoming and make the entire industry ecosystem more prosperous.
Reference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qZbLyHPErg
https://www.techflowpost.com/article/detail_19889.html
https://megaeth.systems/
https://www.monad.xyz/
https://x.com/0xAlexon/status/1830954594580734172
