Monad’s $60M Buyout Offer Fails to Tempt Most Early Investors

Monad has finished an early liquidity initiative that offered selected investors the chance to sell locked MON tokens before their scheduled unlocks, but almost all of those contacted chose to retain their holdings.

The Monad Foundation said Tuesday that it had completed the program, which allowed it to purchase locked MON from certain early investors at a discount. The initiative was backed by up to $60 million.

The Foundation has not disclosed the purchase price, the size of the discount, the amount ultimately spent or the number of investors who accepted the offer. CoinDesk has requested more information about the terms.

The program gave eligible investors a way to access liquidity ahead of schedule. Investors could sell their locked tokens for cash immediately by accepting a reduced price instead of waiting for the normal unlock process. MON acquired by the Foundation will continue following its original vesting schedule, meaning the purchases will not immediately add tokens to the market.

Monad is an Ethereum-compatible blockchain built to support decentralized applications. MON serves as the network’s native token and is used for transaction fees and network security.

Early MON Unlocks Approach

Early investors were allocated roughly 19.7 billion MON, accounting for almost 20% of the token’s initial supply.

Those tokens became subject to a lockup when Monad’s public network launched last November. After a one-year cliff, the holdings will begin unlocking monthly over the rest of a four-year schedule.

The first tokens available for normal investor sales are therefore expected in November.

MON traded near $0.021 on Tuesday, about 16% below the $0.025 price established during last year’s public sale.

Approximately 11.8 billion MON are currently in circulation, giving the token a market capitalization of roughly $250 million and a fully diluted valuation of around $2.1 billion.

The token has remained under pressure despite stronger network activity.

Monad’s DeFi Ecosystem Expands

Capital flowing into Monad’s decentralized finance ecosystem has grown considerably.

DeFiLlama data shows that the total value locked across Monad-based DeFi applications has reached approximately $895 million, up from around $360 million on July 2. That amounts to almost 150% growth in about six weeks.

Stablecoins on Monad have a combined value of roughly $707 million, while decentralized exchanges recorded about $79 million in trading volume over the past 24 hours.

However, the increase in network activity does not necessarily explain why most early investors rejected the buyout. Since the Foundation has not disclosed how large the discount was, their decision to hold MON cannot necessarily be treated as a direct vote of confidence in the token.

The Foundation said the program was designed to help early investors access liquidity when their financial needs or investment plans changed, while keeping the remaining investor base focused on Monad’s longer-term prospects.