Author: Biteye core contributor Lucky
Editor: Crush, core contributor of Biteye
01. Introduction to Manta Pacific
The futures price of the popular Blast on Aevo has recently increased with the continuous increase of TVL. In just one week, it rose from the lowest $3.5 to $15.5, and then fell back to $7. It can be seen that the L2 model that focuses on native returns has begun to be recognized by the market.
Can Manta, which recently launched native revenue using New Paradigm, surpass Blast? Let’s first take a look at what advantages Manta has and where players who enter Manta early have more revenue opportunities than Blast. ??
Manta Network is a modular blockchain for zero-knowledge (ZK) applications. Manta Network was founded by an experienced team of founders from prestigious institutions such as Harvard University and MIT.
Manta Network has received investments from many top Web3 investment funds, including Binance Labs and Polychain Capital.
Manta Pacific is an Ethereum Layer2 designed specifically for ZK applications. It is currently based on OP Stack and is fully compatible with the EVM environment and Solidity development language.
In the future, Manta Pacific will implement zkEVM based on Polygon CDK; at the same time, it will use Manta's universal circuit to implement ZK as a service and use Celestia's modular data availability to provide low gas fees.
It can be said that Manta Pacific provides a perfect environment for supporting ZK applications. Solidity developers do not need cryptographic knowledge or learn new languages to implement ZK functions by calling SDK or API.
(Note: Manta's universal circuit is a zero-knowledge proof (ZK) circuit library designed for general scenarios, providing ZK-as-a Service services for Solidity developers. Only a few lines of code are needed to enable ZK functions in existing applications, including compliant DeFi payments, Web3 Social identity authentication, full-chain game shuffling functions, etc. Through the universal circuit on Manta Pacific, developers can easily deploy EVM-native ZK applications.)
Manta Pacific launched its mainnet Alpha version on September 12, 2023, and is currently the third largest OP Stack L2, second only to Optimism and Base. Once it fully transitions to zkEVM in the future, Manta Pacific may become the largest L2 network based on Polygon zkEVM.
From the launch of Manta Pacific, its future development will be divided into four different stages:
Manta Pacific Alpha (Ethereum L2)
In its current version, Manta Pacific is an Ethereum-based Optimistic Rollup that uses Ethereum’s Data Availability (DA).
It leverages the Manta network’s Universal Circuits, enabling developers to quickly build and deploy ZK-enabled applications using Solidity and the Universal Circuit SDK.
Therefore, all existing Ethereum smart contracts can be seamlessly adapted to Manta Pacific, while also opening up new application scenarios based on ZK’s functionality, such as verifiable DID/KYC, fully on-chain games based on ZK, and synergy between DeFi and decentralized identity, etc.
Manta Pacific Alpha II（+Celestia DA）
During this phase, Manta Pacific will achieve data expansion by integrating Celestia’s modular Data Availability (DA), significantly reducing the gas fees for users to interact with dApps within the Manta Pacific ecosystem.
Celestia’s costs are sublinear with Ethereum’s gas price and are much cheaper than Ethereum’s current costs.
Manta Pacific Beta (+ Transition to zkEVM)
During this phase, Manta Pacific plans to fully transition to the zkEVM and utilize Polygon’s ZK prover.
The final stage of the network architecture will be to have Manta’s general purpose circuits used with built-in ZK features to support a wide range of ZK applications, while combining Validium services and Celestia DA with zkEVM and Polygon CDK for scalability.
Manta Pacific Production-Level Mainnet I (+ Universal Circuit 2.0)
In the final stage, Manta Pacific will officially launch the mainnet. For the Manta Pacific mainnet, Manta Pacific will further upgrade the general circuit to achieve lower gas costs, while using novel ZK technology to unlock new application scenarios.
Judging from Manta Pacific’s roadmap, it will become the first zkEVM L2 to transform from Optimistic Rollup to Validium. This transformation is achieved using Polygon CDK, which significantly reduces gas fees through Celestia DA and increases security through Ethereum consensus and cryptographic proof of on-chain activities. It can be said to be a very forward-looking L2 at present.
02. New Paradigm Event
Recently, the Manta public chain launched the New Paradigm, a liquidity incentive activity within the ecosystem. Similar to the Blast liquidity staking launched by Blur a while ago, users can obtain future token airdrop rewards by staking their own funds.
However, compared with Blast, New Paradigm's advantage lies in its rich ecological projects and shorter payback period. Users can receive token airdrops as early as January 2024, while Blast's airdrops may not be launched until May. In comparison, the capital utilization rate in New Paradigm is much higher than that in Blast.
The expected rewards for the event include the following:
New Paradigm has five sources of income, including fixed income, NFT incentives, and superimposed income brought by the unique DeFi composability within the L2 ecosystem.
1. After ETH and USDC cross-chain to the Manta ecosystem, just like Blast, even if the assets are left untouched, there will be an interest of about 5%;
2. Participate in the event and pledge assets to receive future MANTA token airdrops;
3. Participate in the interaction of Manta projects and obtain potential airdrop opportunities of the projects themselves;
4. After staking ETH and USDC, the Stone and wUSDM obtained can be used to participate in projects within the Manta ecosystem, such as lending projects, to obtain the benefits provided by the project itself;
5. Revenue obtained through Restaking of stETH (optional, Eigenlayer will be added in the future depending on whether the Eigenlayer Restaking Cap is open to the upper limit);
Specific steps are as follows:
1) Deposit cross-chain ETH or USDC into Manta Pacific to earn yield and box fragments. The deposit period is open until January 2024;
2) Users receive STONE and wUSDM on Manta Pacific within 24 hours of deposit. MANTA token rewards can be claimed via NFT as early as January 2024;
3) 69 days after the MANTA token rewards are issued, users can redeem ETH and USDC through STONE and wUSDM;
For detailed strategies, please refer to the [Manta New Paradigm Participation Best Strategy Tutorial?] launched by Biteye to maximize profits??
https://mirror.xyz/0x30bF18409211FB048b8Abf44c27052c93cF329F2/XbI07A9ib7-xsOD8W0nRPC2EascVlD1idHusJcYu9CQ
Currently, New Paradigm's deposit activity has entered the final sprint stage. Friends who want to participate can use our Biteye invitation code:
https://newparadigm.manta.network/?inviteCode=LGDCE
03、StakeStone 和 Mountain Protocol
In New Paradigm, the income from the ETH staked by users comes from the StakeStone protocol, while the income from the USDC staked comes from the Mountain Protocol. Next, we will introduce these two key protocols in the Manta ecosystem:
StakeStone
StakeStone is a full-chain LST (Liquid Stake Token) protocol dedicated to building a decentralized, all-in-one staking protocol, a cross-chain market for LST liquidity, providing easy staking services for stakers, backed by Hashkey Capital, and audited by Secure3Audit.
https://github.com/Secure3Audit/Secure3Academy/blob/main/audit_reports/StakeStone/StakeStone_final_Secure3_Audit_Report.pdf
Users can deposit ETH to obtain STONE. For example, if user A deposits 100 ETH in exchange for a certain amount of STONE, and the value of 1 STONE becomes 1.04 ETH one year later, the user can withdraw 104 ETH from StakeStone with 100 STONE.
When a user deposits ETH into StakeStone, they will receive STONE immediately. At the same time, the received ETH enters the vault contract and waits for deployment. After the deployment is executed, the ETH in the vault contract will be sent to Lido in exchange for stETH, which will then be saved in the StakeStone strategy vault.
In the future, sETH may be deposited in Eigenlayer for re-staking to obtain more returns for STONE holders.
Currently, the total amount of ETH deposited in StakeStone is growing steadily, and the total amount of ETH deposited has reached 225,498, which is about $515M.
Mountain Protocol
Mountain Protocol is an institutional-level compliant, regulated, yield-sharing stablecoin protocol, co-invested by Coinbase Vencture and audited by several well-known auditing agencies including OpenZeppelin.
The stablecoin USDM it issued is backed by U.S. short-term Treasury bonds, which are one of the safest assets in the world.
The main reserves behind USDC and USDT are also U.S. short-term Treasury bonds. According to the risk rating report of the stablecoin rating agency Bluechip, the risk rating of USDM is the same as that of DAI. Therefore, Mountain has two important characteristics: security and compliance.
In New Paradigm, after users deposit the stablecoin USDC, they will automatically receive wUSDM (Wrapped USDM) on Manta Pacific, similar to Lido's wstETH.
During the New Paradigm event, users can consider placing wUSDM in other protocols to earn interest. wUSDM, like any other ERC20 token, can be used to interact with various smart contracts, decentralized applications, and wallets on L2.
According to DefiLlama data, the current issuance of USDM has reached $136M, which has increased significantly after the cooperation with Manta.
04. Overview of ecological data and ecological projects
According to L2 Beat data, Manta’s TVL has reached $559M, surpassing popular L2 public chains such as Linea and Starknet, and is currently ranked sixth.
Judging from the on-chain data, the current TX in the Manta ecosystem has reached nearly 7 million transactions, the total wallet addresses have reached 446,454, and the daily activity on the chain has increased significantly in the past three months.
There are currently more than 200 ecosystem projects on Manta Pacific, and most of them have not issued tokens. It is foreseeable that Manta has brought a large number of new users through the New Paradigm event, and at the same time has deposited a large amount of funds on the chain. This part of the funds will continue to circulate in the ecosystem, interact with the projects in the Manta ecosystem, and gradually cultivate loyal users on the chain.
The following is an introduction to some key ecological projects on Manta:
1. QuickSwap: QuickSwap is currently the DEX with the largest transaction volume in the Manta ecosystem, and is also one of the largest and most well-known DEXs in the Polygon ecosystem.
2. iZUMi Finance: iZUMi is a multi-chain DeFi protocol that provides one-stop liquidity services (LaaS). It innovatively proposes a discrete liquidity automatic market-making model and has received over $50M in financing from investors including IOSG Ventures, Distributed Capital, Hashkey Capital, and BIXIN Ventures.
3. LayerBank: LayerBank is currently the largest lending protocol in the Manta ecosystem. The protocol has been audited by Peckshield and its current TVL has reached $265M. It has been deployed on Linea and Scroll, but currently the main TVL is distributed in Manta.
4. Symbiosis: Symbiosis is a cross-chain DEX and liquidity protocol that has received $2M in funding from DWF Labs, Shima Capital, Binance Labs, Dragonfly, Amber Group, etc.
5. PacificSwap: PacificSwap is a DEX protocol that adopts the ve (3,3) model. It is developed based on the Pancake Swap model and uses the innovative CLAMM algorithm.
6. AsMatch: AsMatch is an online dating application based on zero-knowledge proof ZK. Users can choose to match or not match other users by swiping left or right. They can also fill in the ZK Proof Key of zkSBT into the App to verify on-chain behavior and identity. It belongs to the Social category in Manta.
7. Orbiter Finance: Orbiter Finance is a decentralized Rollup bridge for transferring Ethereum native assets. It provides infrastructure for Layer 2 and is one of the largest cross-chain bridges. It has received $3.2M in financing from Starkware and Amber group.
8. Minibridge: Minibridge is a cross-chain bridge optimized for small transfer scenarios. It has the advantages of low fees and fast transfer. It is rated as the user's favorite bridge on dappsheriff. During the New Paradigm event, the fee is 50% off. MiniBridge is the winning team of Ethereum Shanghai 2023.
05. Conclusion
As the coin launch in 2024 approaches, the airdrop brought by MANTA tokens is bound to add more buzz to L2 in the first quarter of 2024. At the same time, with Manta's integration with Celestia in the next stage, the dual characteristics of modular blockchain and ZK EVM can bring unique advantages to Manta.
Therefore, at this stage, when most projects in its ecosystem have not yet issued coins, and with the strong background of Binance investment, the degree of on-chain volume is much smaller than that of chains such as Zksync. Participating more in the interaction of this chain, increasing asset returns and betting on future airdrops of ecological projects can be said to be a very cost-effective operation.