The MON token for the new Monad blockchain made its commercial debut on Monday, but early market activity suggests a lukewarm reception for one of the most anticipated layer 1 blockchains of the year.
MON changed hands around $0.02417 during the first hours of trading, according to Coinbase data. With 10.83 billion tokens in circulation, MON opened with a market cap of approximately $262 million.
Commercial activity was moderate. In the first 100 minutes, MON only saw $50 million in trading volume, less than is typical for a layer 1 token debut and a sign that demand may be weaker than expected.
This strong start follows a disappointing public token sale on Coinbase’s token platform. Of the circulating supply, 7.5% was allocated for sale at $0.025 per token, which is higher than where MON is currently trading.
Many recent token launches have been scooped up almost instantly, including Plasma, which sold out within the first block. On the other hand, the sale of MON took much longer to be finalized. This could be a sign of a lack of demand which appears to be a consistent theme with the trading debut.
MON tokenomics has sparked debate within the community. The Monad team controls 27% of the total supply, while 19.7% goes to investors, 4% to the laboratory treasury and 38.5% to ecosystem development. Some observers have argued that the team allocation is unusually large for a new layer 1 network and could weigh on market sentiment.
