Akunwn

Exploring the Web3 frontier

[Akunwn @Akunwn]

Gmonad🗣💜

[Akunwn @Akunwn]

@0xFastLane 👀

[FastLane Labs @0xFastLane]

https://t.co/6D7nQJTsR7

[Monad @monad]

Monad Foundation recently completed a liquidity program under which the Foundation offered to buy locked MON from certain early investors in Monad at a discount reflecting the applicable four-year lock-up.

Any MON purchased by the Foundation through the liquidity program remains subject to the same lock-up. The program was capped at $60 million in aggregate purchase consideration.

Nearly all holders approached declined to participate, and the program has now concluded.

Learn more here: https://t.co/pfUBhQRrFL

[Exolix @exolix_com]

Native USDC is now available on Monad via Exolix.

Users can now access native USDC on @monad through Exolix’s cross-chain infrastructure.

Get started: https://t.co/VwygmyVZyJ

[Thogard | 🫎 @ThogardPvP]

A long-form post about the future of FastLane, largely in response to all of the DMs and messages I've been getting that ask how we'll be affected by the upcoming Monad protocol changes.

There's this assumption that it's bad for us if the Monad protocol starts solving some of the same problems that we currently solve (validator and application-specific sequencing).

This is the wrong way to look at things.

We built on Monad because the Monad team shared our core values. Those values--decentralization, permissionless, and prioritizing applications/users--are what drove us to build our validator sequencing technology and our application-specific sequencing technology. Monad has those same values so of course they'd make better versions of the same features that--unlike our own versions--are embedded into the protocol itself. As an out-of-protocol team, we simply didn't have the tools to build solutions that were as comprehensive as what the cat labs team can build... and that's OK.

So we don't view these upgrades as us having to compete with the protocol, or us getting vertically integrated by the protocol. Quite the opposite: we view these huge upgrades to the Monad blockchain as confirmation that the team has the same priorities and values that we have.

So what's changing for FastLane?

If you thought that this was another "shutting down" post then you don't understand FastLane. We enjoy solving hard problems that need to be solved. Now that the MEV problem is solved*, we can focus even more directly on what's next.

About six months ago we started working on a new, stealth project. Technically it's two complimentary projects, both of which fill a void that we felt existed in the Monad ecosystem.

In particular, we wanted to build an app that is:
- Fully decentralized
- Fully permissionless
- Better UX than CeFi
- Better execution than Solana
- Faster than a centralized L2
- Solves a difficult problem that nobody else has a solution for
- Only possible on Monad

So we did, and it's currently in beta. If you want to try it out, DM me.

How does this affect ShMonad, Monad's top LST?

It'll be another revenue source that'll boost ShMonad's yield. I personally think it has the potential to drive more revenue to ShMonad than the MEV products, but it's hard to say for sure.

Note that our MEV products on Monad are still live and will continue driving revenue to shMonad--this will continue until Cadence and the new application-specific sequencing design go live. If this was Ethereum, that'd mean it'll be live for ~10 years, Solana ~2 years, but I have a hunch that the cat labs team can move faster than that.

We plan to incorporate this new app into shMonad's existing points program.

Overall, we're pretty excited. As a company, we've transitioned from a focus on solving Monad's problems to a focus on leveraging Monad's novel solutions. It's a pretty cool vibe shift.

We'll do a formal announcement of the product(s) in the near future--all that's currently blocking the announcement is that we haven't locked in the full feature set yet (we overbuilt and it has too many features, many of which need to be removed to streamline the launch and we can then add them back on once we confirm actual user demand for them).

At the risk of being anticlimactic, if you were to guess what it is, you'd probably be right. I've written about this subject extensively and it also seems to be a bit cliche for MEV teams to be working in this vertical at this time. But if you were to guess how it works, or what it's powered by.. that's where you'd be surprised. Like the Monad blockchain itself, we focused on solving the hard problems that are only just beginning to make themselves known across the space... and I can't wait to tell you more about that soon.

TLDR: we aren't going anywhere.

[Akunwn @Akunwn]

@ThogardPvP Legends never fade

[Monad @monad]

Monad block times are now 300ms

[Category Labs @category_xyz]

https://t.co/QVKICuuIOk

[FastLane Labs @0xFastLane]

How can you earn MEV and Staking yield on your USDC?

go to: https://t.co/6p7cPpvCT7

1) Connect Wallet
2) Submit application (capacity limited)
3) Wait for your application to be approved

A points multiplier is applied for depositors.

[DeltaV (scaling arc) @DeltaV_xyz]

🎙️ DeltaV Builder Stories Ep. 4 is live

Hosts @bhajipav & @0x_yash21 sit down with @ThogardPvP , Founder of @0xFastLane

Timestamps

01:45 - Alex's crypto Journey

05:30 - Early Mistakes

22:45 - Why Builders Should Focus on Shipping

29:15 - Lessons From Building FastLane

[FastLane Labs @0xFastLane]

Put your stables to work with MEV backed staking yield

USDC in, USDC out

An automated, delta-neutral shMON looping strategy, running on-chain.

The FastLane X Li Gomez Smart Vault is now live on Monad

[Akunwn @Akunwn]

@0xFastLane 🍳👀

[Thogard | 🫎 @ThogardPvP]

VCs threw money into centralized systems from 2022-2025 because they’re faster and have better UX.

But they thought that because they misunderstood the decentralization thesis.

The arbitrum DAO legal issue is helping people finally understand why decentralization is better than centralized systems.

Will the right people end up eventually getting those “frozen” funds? Almost certainly. There isn’t any actual risk of those funds going to some long-past DPRK victims.

But will the legal system and courts slow down that process? Absolutely.

Does KYC slow down the UX of an app? Absolutely.

Does checking every tx against OFAC slow down a relay? Absolutely.

Does budging for legal expenses increase the costs passed on to users? Absolutely.

Does having all of the users’ funds vulnerable to attack via a single compromised key (centralized) pose more risk than a fully decentralized system? Absolutely.

Decentralized systems are faster, cheaper, safer, and offer better UX than centralized systems because they can bypass the regulatory and legal speed bumps that make companies slower, more expensive, riskier, and with a worse UX.

The crypto VC narrative of “but users don’t care about decentralization” had a very short lived truth. In reality, most crypto VCs have just never worked in TradFi (or similarly regulated industries) and therefore did not understand just how much of an advantage a fully decentralized system would have… but their naivety wasn’t punished because regulators and lawyers didn’t go after the centralized crypto systems because of how new they were.

That’s changing.

Unfortunately, that “centralized > decentralized” thesis from the first half of the 2020s led to many solid decentralized products not getting funded, and to many centralized products getting funded. As an industry, we’re way more centralized than we should be due to the relative inexperience that crypto VCs have with regulatory friction.

Most users don’t care about decentralization as a concept. But they care about not getting hacked. They care about not having to KYC every six months. They care about not having higher fees. They care about uptime.

Decentralization isn’t better than centralized systems for some abstract reason. As our industry continues to mature, the advantages will become more apparent to everyone. We should start to see more decentralized products getting funded as the capital allocators in crypto gain more real world experience with the friction of dealing with regulations. That’s a good thing.

[FastLane Labs @0xFastLane]

shMON stakers watching the exchange rate tick up every epoch knowing they literally did nothing to earn it.

Passive income but actually passive.

[Akunwn @Akunwn]

@0xFastLane gshmonad!!

[FastLane Labs @0xFastLane]

Searchers on Monad are making your shMON worth more without you doing anything.

They bid MON to order transactions. shMonad captures a cut and adds it to the exchange rate.

More DeFi activity on Monad = higher shMON yield. Automatically.

[Akunwn @Akunwn]

@0xFastLane gshmonad

[FastLane Labs @0xFastLane]

We are the MEV layer of Monad.

@ThogardPvP @cicada_mm

[FastLane Labs @0xFastLane]

We are delighted to Introduces the World’s First Fully Decentralized MEV Protocol, built in collaboration with @category_xyz. This tool allows Monad validators to earn more yield while keeping MEV within the Monad ecosystem.

The Fastlane MEV Protocol consists of the Fastlane Sidecar: a minimal external client that optimally orders top-of-block and backrun bundles, and the Fastlane Auction Handler: a smart contract that searchers must plug into in order to participate in the auction process.

The Sidecar and the Auction Handler require zero new trust assumptions or centralized third parties, such as blockbuilders, private relays, or private RPCs. Instead, we leverage the existing validator set and Monad transaction pool via RaptorCast.

The Monad Foundation has confirmed that FastLane Sidecar is consistent with its VDP guidelines and does not affect validators’ eligibility for Foundation stake delegations.

FastLane is proud to support the Monad ecosystem and its strong ethos on decentralization.

Learn more about the MEV Protocol here:
➡️ https://t.co/jNtyzknmLR

[FastLane Labs @0xFastLane]

We’re proud to share that Atlas, our protocol for application specific orderflow auctions, has been acquired by @chainlink.

Atlas’s proven orderflow technology is now integrated into Chainlink SVR, enabling applications and protocols to capture and retain value more effectively.

Chainlink has securely enabled over $27 trillion in transaction value and currently secures more than 70% of the DeFi ecosystem. We’re excited to see Atlas scale further through Chainlink’s global distribution and infrastructure.

This is a strategic milestone for FastLane. FastLane will continue to operate independently and remain a strategic partner to Chainlink in the ongoing development and adoption of Atlas.

Our focus remains unchanged. We are doubling down on Monad, building elite staking infrastructure and developer tooling including Application Controlled Execution Software to strengthen network effects and continuing our mission with renewed clarity and focus.

Read more here: <https://t.co/yCYGZy6BGh>