Tuesday morning brought a sudden, if brief, moment of digital chaos for many in the crypto world. Privy, a widely used web3 wallet, experienced what it called a “partial outage.” It was a reminder that even the most robust systems can feel the strain when a big event hits.
- Privy, a popular web3 wallet, experienced a partial outage due to a surge in activity from the Monad Foundation’s MON token airdrop claim window opening. The issue was resolved quickly, highlighting the strain large events can put on infrastructure.
- Monad’s airdrop aims to distribute MON tokens to over 230,000 addresses, encompassing various crypto participants. The Monad team has issued warnings about potential scams, advising users to avoid urgency and always verify information.
- The MON tokens will not be transferable until the Token Generation Event (TGE), which will coincide with the network’s mainnet launch. Pre-market trading on Hyperliquid suggests significant market interest and speculation around Monad’s valuation.
The cause? The Monad Foundation chose that very moment to open the claim window for its much-anticipated native MON token airdrop. Privy, being a popular choice for authentication, found itself at the center of a sudden surge of activity.
Think of it like a sudden rush of concert-goers all trying to buy tickets at the exact same second. The system groans. Privy’s status page showed “degraded performance” starting around 9:16 a.m. ET. But, credit where it’s due, service was back to normal by 9:57 a.m. ET. A quick fix, all things considered, for a system that boasts 99.97% uptime over the last 90 days.
The Privy team took to X, the social media platform, to explain the situation. They noted they were “aware of increased load due to the launch of @monad’s Airdrop Claim Portal.” This pressure, they said, hit their database capacity, and they were “actively working to scale accordingly.” It’s a common story in the fast-paced world of crypto, where demand can spike unexpectedly.
Monad’s Big Day and a Word of Caution
This Monad airdrop is no small affair. It aims to distribute MON tokens to more than 230,000 addresses. This includes a broad spectrum of participants: community members, active onchain users, general crypto enthusiasts, contributors, and builders. It’s a wide net, designed to spread the token far and wide.
But with such large-scale distributions comes a familiar shadow: scams. The Monad team had already warned participants to be vigilant. They know that bad actors often try to trick people into acting quickly, creating a false sense of urgency.
Keone Hon, Monad’s co-founder, reiterated this warning on Tuesday. He advised the community, “Do not act with urgency, and always triple-verify before doing anything. There is no urgency to complete anything.” It’s a simple message, but an important one for anyone looking to claim tokens.
The claim portal will stay open for the next three weeks, closing on November 3. So, there’s plenty of time to verify links and avoid phishing attempts. This current phase is just for “eligibility.” Users can connect their wallets and reserve their tokens.
The MON tokens won’t actually be transferable until the Token Generation Event (TGE). This TGE will coincide with the network’s mainnet launch. We expect an announcement about that launch after the claim window closes.
Monad had been building interest for weeks, teasing the launch with an “airdrop claim loading” progress bar. Between October 2 and October 8, the status moved from 51% to 80%. This kind of slow reveal can certainly gin up excitement, and perhaps, a bit of the Tuesday morning rush.
Beyond the Claim: Market Signals and Infrastructure
Even before the official launch, the market is already speculating. MON-USD hyperps (Hyperliquid perps) are trading at around $0.07 in a pre-market futures market on Hyperliquid. This implies a fully diluted valuation (FDV), which estimates a project’s total worth if all tokens were in circulation, of roughly $7 billion. This is based on a total supply of 100 billion tokens.
Monad Labs, the company behind this high-throughput, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, has a strong pedigree. It was co-founded by former developers from Jump Trading, a significant name in the trading world. The project also secured substantial backing, raising $225 million in 2024 funding. Paradigm, a major crypto investment firm, led that round.
The incident also shines a light on Privy itself. The crypto wallet firm made headlines earlier this year when fintech giant Stripe agreed to purchase it in June. Stripe plans to develop Privy as an independent product, suggesting a clear vision for its future. Privy is a significant player, used by major protocols like the trading platform Hyperliquid, the social protocol Farcaster, and the NFT marketplace OpenSea. At the time of the acquisition news, Privy boasted over 75 million accounts.
So, while Tuesday’s “partial outage” was a brief blip, it offers a glimpse into the pressures and promises of the crypto world. Airdrops, with their sudden bursts of activity, test the limits of infrastructure. They also highlight the constant need for users to stay sharp and verify information. It’s a wild ride, and sometimes, even the digital pipes get a little clogged.
