Monad's $60M buyback finds few sellers as MON faces November unlock

Monad Foundation closed a $60 million program to buy locked MON from early investors, but nearly all declined to sell, it said Tuesday.

The foundation launched the offer to give early backers an exit if their investment plans had changed, while keeping the remaining holder base aligned for the longer term. It said it has never sold MON and is not pursuing any over-the-counter sales. The foundation did not disclose the discount offered, how much of the $60 million was spent, or how many investors participated.

Early investors hold about 19.7 billion MON, nearly 20 percent of the original supply. MON traded near $0.021 on Tuesday, about 16 percent below the $0.025 public-sale price, with roughly 11.8 billion MON circulating for a market value near $250 million against a fully diluted value of about $2.1 billion. Any tokens the foundation repurchased remain locked on their original vesting schedule, so the program does not accelerate supply onto the market.

The first significant investor unlocks begin in November, after a one-year wait followed by monthly releases over the remainder of a four-year schedule. MON has consolidated below $0.025 for more than a month, forming lower highs, with $0.019-$0.020 as the key support zone. Recent intraday weakness shows sellers remain in control; a break below that level would improve the chances of a further decline, while a rebound above $0.021-$0.022 would suggest buyers are returning.

The rejection of the offer is not an unambiguous bullish signal. By declining to sell, early investors keep their locked tokens outside the foundation's control, leaving the supply overhang intact ahead of the November unlocks. Monad's on-chain activity has grown even as the token lagged — total value locked in Monad-based DeFi apps climbed to about $895 million from roughly $360 million on July 2, a gain of almost 150 percent in six weeks, according to DeFiLlama, with stablecoins on the network worth about $707 million.

Monad is a relatively newer blockchain built to run applications compatible with Ethereum, using MON to pay transaction fees and help secure the network. The token's weakness contrasts with the broader Layer-1 sector, where rivals such as Solana and Ethereum have drawn steady flows, leaving MON's price action dependent on whether buyers defend the $0.019-$0.020 zone into the November unlock window.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.