Mr. Market is showing interest in Mantle (MNT) or the Mantle Network. For example, Mantle was CoinMarketCap’s ninth-most trending cryptocurrency on 18 July 2023. So what is Mantle and does it deserve your attention?
The Mantle Network is a technology stack for scaling Ethereum (ETH). In particular, Mantle is EVM compatible. Importantly, EVM is the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the digital computer that runs Ethereum. You need access to the EVM if you want to do business with Ethereum protocols and ERC20 tokens.
This is a smart strategy because Ethereum is the world’s most popular blockchain. For example, Bitpay estimates there were over 450,000 Ethereum request for comment or ERC20 tokens on 22 February 2023. Ethereum is an open-source platform on which developers and entrepreneurs build decentralized applications (dApps), create smart contracts, and launch tokens.
What is the Mantle Network?
Hence, Ethereum has become the backbone of blockchain commerce. Mantle’s purpose is to scale or expand Ethereum to increase its capacity. To elaborate Mantle is an Optimistic Rollup.
An Optimistic Rollup is a Layer 2 protocol they build to increase the capacity or throughput of Ethereum. A Layer 2 protocol is an extra layer of blockchain they build onto of Ethereum to increase its capacity.
Mantle increases speed by not verifying or investigating off-chain transaction. Instead, Mantle assumes all transactions are valid. This reduces costs and the need for capacity by eliminating verification. It increases security risks because nobody is checking for fraud. Instead, Mantle processes transactions offline but settles them on Ethereum’s Layer 1.
The hope is optimistic rollups can make Ethereum faster and increase its capacity by taking computation, storage, and transaction processing offchain. Theoretically, this can cut costs because you need to purchase fees called gas to access the EVM. This can get expensive because gas cost $2.67 on 18 July 2023, Crypto.com estimates.
The whitepaper claims Mantle can reduce gas fees by over 80%. They also claim Mantle can increase Ethereum’s transactions per second (TPS) rate from 25 TPS to 500 TPS. Increasing the TPS allows a dApp or protocol to serve more customers and serve a mass market.
How Mantle’s Modular Network works
Mantle uses a Modular Network approach to blockchain design. To explain, most blockchain protocols conduct all tasks on a layer one network. In Mantle’s network, separate modules handle each process.
Theoretically, this makes the network efficient and reduces risk. For example, a hacker will have to crack several modules to crack Mangle’s network. Mantle sends processes to different nodes, which further reduces risks.
Furthermore, Mantle uses trusted whitelisted node operators who have to sign the blocks they create. Hence, Mantle makes node operators responsible for the off-chain transactions. If there is a problem, Mantle can stop using that operator. That gives the Node Operator a powerful incentive to get transactions right.
Mantle fights fraud by only investigating transactions when there is a complaint or challenge. They consider unchallenged data valid and keep it in Mantle’s system.
Mantle reduces costs by keeping data on its Layer 2 instead of Ethereum’s Layer 1. This cuts gas costs. Instead of Ethereum, Mantle stores data in standalone modules. Eigen Layer’s EigenDA (digital availability technology) powers rewards and stake slashing in Mantle. Mantel claims its DA can cut costs by 30% to 70% by eliminating the need for gas fees.
Can Mantle (MNT) drive the mass-adoption of token-governed technologies?
They claim the Mantle Network and Mantle Treasury can help entrepreneurs build and deploy token-governed blockchain products.
For example, the Mantle Network can support high-performance dApps that offer an exceptional user experience (UX). These apps operate on Ethereum and can access the EVM. Attributes Mantle can offer include decentralized staking services.
Mantle Treasury finances the Mantle Ecosystem and DeFi projects with cryptocurrency. On 19 July 2023, the Mantle Treasury contained:
- 3.044 billion BitDAO (BIT) worth $1.766 billion (40.92%)
- 2.945 billion Mantle (MNT) worth $1.727 billion (40.01%)
- 264,947 Ethereum (ETH) worth $511.403 million (11.85%)
- 221.737 million USD Coin (USDC) worth $221.737 million (5.14%)
- 73.912 million Tether (USDT) worth $73.898 million (1.71%)
- 10,000 PleasrDAO (PEEPS) worth $6.5 million (0.15%)
- 3.362 million FTX (FTT) Tokens worth $4.908 million (0.11%)
- 11 million ApeX Protocol (APEX) worth $2.385 million (0.06%)
- 2.132 million xSushi (XSUSHI) tokens worth $2.058 million (0.05%)
- 327,452 UnivP BIT tokens worth $189,985 (0%)
- 42 Univ3LPWETH (WETH) tokens worth $80,420 (0%)
Mantle has several initiatives to drive ecosystem adoption, including the Mantle EcoFund, a pool of $300 million that invests in new applications and partners. There is also the EduDAO incubator and the Game7 collective of gaming veterans and crypto lenders that support new games and gaming technology.
What Value Does Mantle (MNT) offer?
Mantle (MNT) has some value. For example, CoinMarketCap gave it a $1.08 billion Market Capitalization, and a Fully Diluted Market Cap of $3.6 billion on 19 July 2023.
However, Mantle had a 58.49₵ Coin Price and a $17.27 million 24-Hour Market Volume on 19 July 2023. They base these numbes on a Self-Reported Cicrulating Supply of 1.84 billion MNT, and a Maximum Supply of 6.22 billion MNT.
Mr. Market thinks Mantle (MNT) offers some potential. I think Mantle has a future because there are many dApps in Mantle’s ecosystem. For example, Age of Zalmaxis is a fantasy massive multiplayer online roleplaying game built with Unreal Engine 5 and blockchain. Chesslers.com is a platform that lets people bet on Chess.
Uses for the Mantle Network (MNT)
iZumi Finance is a multi-chain DeFi Protocol that offers Liquidity-as-a-Service (LaaS). Pulsar combines an automatic Market Maker with instant and term swaps. Souffl3 is a one-stop marketplace for launching, listing, and trading of NFTs. Bullieverse is an open metaverse with immersive NFT gaming. CryptoDo buids no-code Web 3 solutions for business. The Covalent application programming interface makes billions of data points visible.
StreamNFT builds a scalability layer for NFTs. Atlas creates glyphs for on-chain data. FusionX is a DeFi application for Mangle. A.live creates music for the metaverse. Timeswap is trying to build the first oracle-less automatic market maker lending and borrowing market. XTRA is a Gamer Identity Protocol. Jump DeFi is a one-step decentralized finance platform for the Mantle Network. Lendle is a decentralized non-custodial liquidity market.
Ammos is an efficient decentralized exchange (DEX) that supports limit orders, managed liquidity positions (MLP), Optimized Liquidity, and Native Bribing. BoomFi is an all-in-one solution that sends, converts, and accepts cryptocurrency payments across multiple blockchains.
I think Mantle could achieve enormous value because many apps are using it. Moreover, the Mantle treasury contained $4.316 billion on 19 July 2023. Hence, the Mantel Network is making money now. I think this makes Mantle (MNT) a cryptocurrency that is worth examining.
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