Okay, let's be real. My fellow NFT artists, how many times have you looked at your monitor, poised to mint a dazzling new work of digital art? And then, zip! Then, boom! If you’re not first, you’re hit in the face by Ethereum gas fees that are more than your artwork even is. I've got a meme for that. (See below. I call it "Gas Fee Grief.")

![Gas Fee Grief Meme - a pixelated face screaming into a wallet]

It's not just frustrating; it's soul-crushing. We’re talking about a system that's supposed to empower creators, but instead, it's pricing us out of our own damn market. I think back to one occasion where I was literally just trying to mint a profile pic. The gas fees suddenly became exorbitant. I could have commissioned a professional headshot, had it framed, and shipped halfway across the country! The absurdity!

10,000 TPS: Hope or Hype?

Enter Monad. That’s right, this new Layer 1 blockchain is already promising a massive scale of 10,000 TPS. Ten thousand! Ethereum barely manages what? Like, fifteen on a good day? 2.2 They’re bragging about EVM compatibility, i.e., our dApps can all relatively easily migrate over. And get this: they claim to be solving the congestion issues and therefore, lower our gas fees. If indeed true, this isn’t just an upgrade, it’s a potential revolution.

Think about it. Lower minting costs. Faster transaction times. Now picture being able to sell your art without worrying about it! No more sweating over sacrificing half of your profits to the Ethereum deities! That might just unlock the floodgates to allowing new artists, new collectors, and new forms of artistic expression to flourish. Zero guesswork on the best time of day to mint so you don’t have to pay ridiculous gas fees. Simply put, no more letting your lost profits go up in smoke in real-time.

Monad’s secret sauce? Execution of transactions in parallel and something called a “deferred execution mechanism.” Don’t make me go into the nitty-gritty, my brain begins to ache. The gist is that they're processing multiple transactions simultaneously, like a super-efficient art factory, instead of one at a time like Ethereum's slow, arthritic conveyor belt. They are calling it MonadBFT, their own optimized version of the HotStuff algorithm. Further, they make use of MonadDb, an on-chain database built specifically to suit their core needs.

VC Funding: Devil in the Details?

Now, before we all rush out and throw our ETH into Monad’s digital coffers, let’s get to the elephant in the room. Venture Capital. Ugh. Yes, Monad is backed by VCs. And though we’d like to believe that they’re all acting in good faith (insert eye roll), you know how that fairytale typically ends. Centralization concerns are valid. We sincerely hope they follow through to make this a truly decentralized platform—and not just another new playground for the global, wealthy elite.

This is where we all have to be skeptical, educated and loud. So let’s push to ensure that the Monad team — and anyone else pursuing these kinds of projects — is transparent and accountable. We need to ensure that this new blockchain remains true to the original spirit of crypto: empowering the individual and disrupting the status quo.

Is Ethereum's Reign Over?

Look, I'm not saying Ethereum is dead. It’s still the granddaddy of DeFi and NFTs. Yet, its Achilles’ heel has always been scalability. If Monad can actually live up to its goals, it has the potential to be a game changer. Just think of the possibilities:

  • More Affordable NFTs: Making digital art accessible to a wider audience.
  • Faster Transactions: No more waiting hours for your NFT to be confirmed.
  • Innovation Unleashed: New types of NFT projects that are currently impossible due to high fees.
  • More Artists Minting: More artists can finally mint without the huge upfront costs.

Is this the beginning of the end for Ethereum’s gas fee tyranny. Maybe. Probably not entirely. But it's a glimmer of hope. An opportunity to build a more equitable and accessible NFT ecosystem…

So, what do you think? Looking to sail over to Monad and leave the mainland behind? Are you cautiously optimistic? Or has it already convinced you it’s a repeat of the flash-in-the-pan history? Share your thoughts in the comments below. And if you’re an artist who has been burned by gas fees, we want to amplify your story. Together, let’s raise our voices and fight for our NFT community’s bright, interoperable future.

If not, at the very least, we’ll be able to mint our art without emptying our proverbial kidneys first.