The Rollup The Monad Thesis With James Hunsaker
Jul 21, 2025
James Hunsaker from Monad, an expert in blockchain efficiency, navigates the complexities of decentralized exchanges. He discusses why latency and economic incentives are the real stumbling blocks for crypto adoption, rather than just transaction speeds. Hunsaker challenges conventional thinking about high-frequency trading in a blockchain context and emphasizes the need for better infrastructure to meet user demands. He also explores the economic dynamics of Layer 1 networks and critiques the integration of cryptocurrency in consumer payments.
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Sports Betting Inspires Throughput Thinking
- James Hunsaker was inspired to think about high throughput from his casual observations of sports betting growth during COVID times.
- He imagined the bursty, peak demand on blockchain from many simultaneous bets and the technical challenges it poses.
Enable Streaming Data for Trading UX
- Provide streaming data and consistent low-latency response to enable automated trading strategies.
- Decentralized systems face trade-offs in performance and latency compared to centralized setups with known sequencer locations.
Monad's General-Purpose Design
- Monad is a general-purpose chain, not optimized specifically for central limit order books like Hyperliquid.
- This design intent reflects trade-offs between decentralization, composability, and specialized high throughput.