Introducing: Category Labs
Today, December 16, 2024, we are sharing an exciting organizational update. Monad Labs, the team building performant software for the Monad blockchain protocol, is rebranding to Category Labs.
Category Labs will continue to develop technology underlying the Monad blockchain protocol, and will continue to be led by cofounder James Hunsaker, who serves as CEO. As the team grows and executes, we will explore additional thoughtful ways to leverage our team’s technical expertise to expand what’s possible with decentralized systems.
This rebranding is part of a larger organizational update, signaling a next step in the evolution of the Monad blockchain: alongside the rebranding, we are announcing the Monad Foundation, an independent organization dedicated to encouraging the development and adoption of the Monad protocol.
Why Category Labs?
New technology is needed to unlock performance for blockchains without compromising on decentralization. Category Labs has pioneered several new technologies, including a new database for efficiently storing Ethereum merkle trie, a new BFT consensus mechanism, and a means of optimistic parallel execution of Ethereum transactions.
As a core contributor to the Monad blockchain protocol, Category Labs will utilize these and further innovations to continue to improve the tradeoff curve between performance and decentralization.
What is the Monad Foundation?
The Foundation’s principal activity will be to facilitate validator-led governance and community-led improvement proposals; provide developer documentation relating to the network; and engage in ecosystem development, marketing, and advisory-related services for the Monad protocol. Keone Hon and Eunice Giarta will be joining the Monad Foundation. A portion of the previous Monad Labs workforce, primarily on the Business Development, Ecosystem, Community, Marketing, Developer Relations, and Operations teams, will also be joining the Monad Foundation.
Looking Forward
To continue following updates about the Monad protocol from the Monad Foundation, you can do so at https://x.com/monad_xyz, and at https://monad.xyz.
If you’d like to receive updates on Category Labs, please follow along at https://x.com/category_xyz, and at https://category.xyz.