You earn Monolith Tokens mainly by completing daily contracts in raids in Active Matter, and you can top them up by buying them with Prime (Crystallised Active Matter), redeeming Merits in the Fundamental Protocol, or converting enemy dog tags with the “Legacy of the fallen” recipe. You spend them at the Monolith Access Terminal in your Shelter to unlock gear, recipes and the next access level.
This guide covers every official token source, how the side currencies feed into tokens, what the Monolith sells, and what happens to your tokens when you reset. It reflects the full release on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S as of update 0.4.0.156 (September 26, 2026), during Harmonization Cycle 2, verified against official patch notes.
What Monolith Tokens Are For
The Monolith is Active Matter’s main progression track. Its access levels are named after Greek letters (the Xbox demo post names GAMMA as level 3, and DELTA follows it), and update 0.4.0.84 refers to levels 2 through 12, so there are twelve in all. Tokens buy the unlocks inside each level, which the patch notes show include Shop access for weapons and gear, fusion recipes, Investigations and higher tiers of operative objectives. The developer calls it “a progression system” and says that while top-tier guns can drop in raids, “the most reliable source will remain leveling the Monolith.”
Some unlocks are tied to the current Harmonization Cycle. Shop and Monolith tooltips now show which Cycle an item needs, and the purchase button is removed for items the Cycle still locks.
Every Way to Get Monolith Tokens
1. Daily raid contracts. Contracts are the main income. When the “Fire Walk” update reworked them in December 2025, the notes said the single primary contract “does not give Monolith Tokens” while “the rest of the contracts are daily,” and a player question in the developer’s December Q and A describes contract rewards paying Monolith Tokens in both PvE and PvP. The Gigastructure update added one exception: “Monolith Tokens are not awarded for completing operative objectives.” Check each contract’s panel in the Missions tab before you queue.
2. Buying them with Prime. The same update “Added the ability to purchase Monolith Tokens for Crystallised Active Matter,” which is the currency the store pages call Prime. The purchase lives in the Shop.
3. Merits in the Fundamental Protocol. The September 24 update added a permanent reward track, Cycle 0, whose rewards “include consumables, unique decorations, Credits, and Monolith Tokens.” It unlocks at Monolith access level DELTA and stays unlocked after you create a new Personal Timeline, and you can spend Merits there whether or not a Harmonization Cycle is running.
4. Enemy dog tags. Update 0.3.0.99 added “Legacy of the fallen,” an unlockable Monolith recipe that converts “up to three dog tag trophies into Monolith Tokens per day.” The trophies come from enemy Operatives, so this source rewards Open Raid play. Fusion recipes now sit in their own Workshop tab.
5. Smaller and older sources. A December 2025 patch fixed “the display of Monolith Tokens received for the first monster kill in a raid,” and the same month’s notes added more tokens to the daily objectives in Nexus battles, the team PvP mode. Community events, like the January 2026 Scorches Hunt, have also paid tokens to top finishers.
Where Prime and Merits Come From
Because two of those sources are other currencies, it helps to know how to earn them:
- Prime (Crystallised Active Matter): earned from daily contracts, per the store pages, plus 5 per story contract since update 0.4.0.93. Each edition includes a one-time grant (300 Standard, 1,300 Advanced, 5,500 Deluxe). The current Twitch Drops campaign also pays 250 Prime for six hours watched, until October 2 at 15:00 UTC, per the official drops post.
- Merits: earned from the three daily “Priority Raid” contracts and from reaching Monolith access levels, but only while a Harmonization Cycle is active. Update 0.4.0.84 set a full climb from level 2 to 12 at 15,000 Merits. There is a cap, and the developer says “a single cap overflow is allowed; any further Merits beyond the cap will be lost,” so spend them before you max out.
Both Prime and Merits survive wipes: update 0.4.0.122 changed their tooltips to say “these currencies persist after wipes.”
Spending Tokens Well
Tokens go further when you spend them with a plan:
- Buy what you will use in raids. Shop access for a weapon you run every day is worth more than a recipe you will never charge.
- Skip key contracts after a reset. Since “Fire Walk,” you can pay tokens to skip key contracts after a progression wipe, which saves repeating them.
- Choose the permanent reward carefully. At the end of the Monolith you pick a permanent reward before stepping through the door to a new Personal Timeline. Asked about undoing a misclick, the developer said “Not for now, so choose carefully before opening the door on the special Monolith scene itself!”
- Spend before you reset. The patch notes list only Merits and Prime as currencies that persist after wipes, so do not count on banked tokens carrying over.
Resetting has a reason, too. Per the developer’s Harmonization Q and A, “You can repeat the Monolith progression and earn Merits for each Monolith Access Level again only by creating a new timeline,” and those Merits buy more tokens in the Fundamental Protocol.
Since refining feeds the same loop, our guide on how to sell items covers Quick Refine and dog tags, and our PvE, PvP and price guide explains why Isolated Raids progress slower. The rest of our coverage is on the Active Matter hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fastest way to get Monolith Tokens? Clear your daily raid contracts every day, then add the Legacy of the fallen dog tag conversion and any Merits you can spend in the Fundamental Protocol. Buying tokens with Prime is the shortcut if you have Prime saved.
Can you buy Monolith Tokens? Yes, in the Shop with Prime, the in-game Crystallised Active Matter currency. Editions include a one-time Prime grant, but the stores do not sell Prime on its own.
Do operative objectives give Monolith Tokens? No. The Gigastructure update states that operative objectives do not award Monolith Tokens.
Do Monolith Tokens reset when you create a new Personal Timeline? The patch notes only list Merits and Prime as persisting after wipes, so spend your tokens before you reset.
When does the Fundamental Protocol unlock? At Monolith access level DELTA. If you already reached DELTA before the September 24 update, access was granted automatically.