by Coinstrooper Crypto Articles
Quick Take
  • Monad’s MON token continues to rally after its long-anticipated mainnet launch, defying the steep post-airdrop declines that dominated 2025.
  • The token has climbed more than 70% above its Coinbase sale price while the broader crypto market trades under heavy pressure.
  • Monad launched its public mainnet and MON token on November 24 with roughly 10–11% of its 100 billion supply unlocked.
  • The airdrop and public sale provided liquidity, while more than 50.6% of the supply (team, investors, treasury) remained locked through 2029.

What Happened

Monad’s MON token continues to rally after its long-anticipated mainnet launch, defying the steep post-airdrop declines that dominated 2025. The token has climbed more than 70% above its Coinbase sale price while the broader crypto market trades under heavy pressure.

Monad launched its public mainnet and MON token on November 24 with roughly 10–11% of its 100 billion supply unlocked.

The airdrop and public sale provided liquidity, while more than 50.6% of the supply (team, investors, treasury) remained locked through 2029.

The launch attracted immediate attention. MON dipped about 15% in early trading, hitting $0.02 as airdrop sellers exited.

The Coinbase token sale, which raised $269 million from about 85,820 participants, added a second cohort of committed holders. These buyers anchored around the $0.025 sale price and proved less eager to dump at launch.

This broad coverage sharply contrasts with earlier L1 launches that relied on thin liquidity pools and fragmented markets, often triggering immediate 50–80% crashes.

TVL reached ~$90 million, with Uniswap, Gearbox, Curve, and native dApps launching within hours. DEX volume crossed $70 million, driven by concentrated liquidity pools and farming incentives.

This early activity reinforced the perception that Monad launched as a functioning ecosystem, not as a speculative token awaiting future development.

Market Context

Buyers quickly absorbed the flow. Within 24 hours, MON traded near $0.03–0.035, and now sits around $0.04, more than 50–70% above its $0.025 public sale price.

This strength stands out in a market where Bitcoin has dropped below $90,000 and total crypto market capitalization has fallen by more than a trillion dollars since October.

Heavy Exchange Coverage Shielded MON From Volatility

Deep order books absorbed airdrop selling. Market makers tightened spreads, and cross-venue liquidity reduced fragmentation. Traders could short, long, or hedge without flooding spot markets.

On-Chain Activity Surprised the Market

These figures exceed what many blockchains achieve in their first year. They show early real usage from bots, arbitrageurs, developers, and liquidity programs.

Why It Matters

Data from on-chain activity, exchange flows, and token distribution offer a clear explanation for the outperformance — and reveal how long the rally may realistically last.

Details

Strong Day-One Performance Sets the Tone

Airdrop and Token Sale Created a Stable Holder Base

Monad distributed roughly 4.73 billion MON in airdrops to 289,000 eligible accounts, with 3.33 billion ultimately claimed. The design targeted DeFi power-users, NFT traders, testnet contributors, and DAO participants rather than quest farmers.

Because insiders remain locked, early sellers were mostly airdrop recipients. This dynamic helped prevent the heavy cascades that crushed many 2025 airdrops.

MON was listed across major exchanges on day one, including Coinbase, Upbit, Bithumb, Kraken, Bybit, Bitget, Crypto.com, and MEXC. Derivatives opened on multiple venues, giving traders hedging options.

Monad’s first 24 hours delivered rare on-chain traction for a new L1. Nansen recorded:

3.7 million transactions

153,000 active addresses

18,000 contract deployments