Mantle (MNT): scaling Ethereum

The high fees and congestion on the Ethereum blockchain network have led to the emergence of layer2 networks like Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism. Layer2, or simply L2, is a network built on top of the underlying layer 1 blockchain and extending its functionality.

Layer 2 networks can reduce the load on the underlying blockchain by taking over some of the transactions, i.e. they allow the ecosystem to scale. One such network is Mantle, which will be discussed in this article.

What Mantle is and how it came to be

Mantle is a second-tier solution that uses the technology stack to scale Efirium. These networks are also called sidechains. The Mantle blockchain records and processes transactions outside the underlying network at the "second layer", combines them into packets and sends them to Ethereum for confirmation. This makes operating at the "first layer" easier and provides high security for transactions. According to the developers, commissions on the Mantle grid are 80 per cent cheaper than the Ethereum platform, and the network processes up to 500 transactions per second.

The Mantle software stack is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine or EVM. Thus, all decentralized applications (DApps) running on Ethereum can also be easily deployed on the Mantle network. According to the team, this will help attract more developers to the ecosystem.

Mantle emerged in 2022 as part of the BitDAO project, which has the largest fund among decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) — these are structures managed by the crypto community through voting. BitDAO was established by the co-founders of the popular centralized exchange ByBit.

In May 2023, the project team merged Mantle and BitDAO under a single brand following a crypto community vote, during which the latter was renamed Mantle Governance. Mantle Governance has a fund of over $3 billion dollars under management.

In January 2023, a test network was launched and operated for six months. During that time:

The network processed over 14 million transactions;
More than 140,000 smart contracts — the software modules required for automated processing of bilateral transactions on the blockchain - were deployed;
More than 68,000 developers participated;
More than 690,000 unique addresses were created, and the number of monthly active addresses exceeded 157,000.

On 17 July 2023, the Mantle team launched the alpha version of the core network (mainnet), and users can now transact with real assets, seeing the benefits of the protocol in practice.

Mantle's operating principles and ecosystem

Mantle is a modular blockchain and utilizes Rollups technology — the same as Arbitrum and Optimism. All transactions executed on the Mantle network are combined into a single "rollup" and only then sent to the Ethereum blockchain for validation. In this way, the validators of the underlying network validate the entire packet at once rather than the transactions individually. This approach can significantly reduce the cost of commissions.

The developers of the Mantle blockchain introduced a unique three-tier modular architecture: in addition to calculations and transaction processing, the protocol is integrated with EigenLayer to optimize the crypto network. This data availability layer, the "fraud-proof layer" allows data to be stored and verified in Mantle without having to write it to the Ethereum blockchain.

In addition to the Layer 2 modular network, the Mantle ecosystem includes:

Mantle Governance — a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to manage the ecosystem. The DAO uses the MNT token to vote for Mantle Improvement Proposals (MIPs).
Mantle Treasury — a treasury inherited from BitDAO as well as Mantle Governance.

Mantle has a completely open protocol so that users can track any movements of treasury reserves.

Mantle cryptocurrency

MNT is a governance token that is used to manage Mantle Governance (DAO), pay gas for transactions and develop the ecosystem, encouraging early users and developers.

MNT has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion. This large capitalization is due to the fact that some of the tokens came into circulation by migrating the previously issued BIT token. The maximum token supply is 6.22bn MNT, of which almost half (3.1bn) is already in circulation.

The current price of MNT is $0.32. After listing in July 2023, the price reached an all-time high of $0.59 before declining. The downtrend continues until now, which is in line with the general sentiment in the cryptocurrency market.

Benefits and prospects of Mantle

Low transaction fees: Mantle's unique modular architecture reduces complex transaction fees for transactions passing through smart contracts by 70% compared to other rollup-based tier 2 networks;
High throughput and fast transaction confirmation;
Decentralized management;
EVM compatibility and support for the Solidity programming language, facilitating the development of Mantle-based smart contracts and decentralized DApps.

Launching the core network is just the beginning of the journey for the Mantle project. The team has several other important updates and activities planned for the next two years:

Mantle Journey is a loyalty programme aimed at rewarding active network members. Users who make regular transactions, interact with smart contracts and participate in liquidity pools will be able to qualify for rewards;
Dynamic NFT Citizens of Mantle — innovative collectables for which users can claim rewards and gifts;
MantleLSD — liquid ETH is staking at the Mantle protocol level.

Mantle could become one of the key players among second-tier blockchains and seriously compete with Arbitrum and Optimism. This is quite achievable in the foreseeable future, given the large reserves of the project's fund.