Metis Ecosystem: Key Projects to Watch After Over 190% Weekly Surge
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Metis Ecosystem: Key Projects to Watch After Over 190% Weekly Surge
Is the 100x coin METIS coming back again?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Kaori
Recently, Metis, a Layer 2 project born in the previous market cycle, has seen rising ecosystem momentum, drawing increasing market attention.
Metis is an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution built on Optimistic Rollup, co-founded in 2018 by Elena Sinelnikova, Kevin Liu, and Yuan Su as a general-purpose infrastructure and Layer 2 scaling initiative. The project previously raised $1 million in angel and seed funding rounds, followed by a $3 million Series A round.
Elena Sinelnikova is the founder of Crypto Chicks, a blockchain nonprofit organization dedicated to blockchain education for women, providing opportunities for women to learn about and enter the blockchain space. Since another co-founder of Crypto Chicks, Natalia Ameline, is the mother of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, many consider Metis to be a project indirectly endorsed by "Vitalik."
As of writing, according to CoinGecko data, Metis’s native token METIS has surged past $70, reaching $76, with a 7-day gain of 191.3%. Meanwhile, L2BEAT data shows that Metis’ total value locked (TVL) has climbed to $540 million, marking a 399% increase over seven days.
Earlier, the price rise of Optimism’s token was seen as a catalyst signaling the gradual recovery of the Layer 2 sector. Following this trend, Metis began its own upward trajectory, widely believed to be linked to its recently announced ecosystem incentive fund.
On December 18, MetisDAO Foundation, the development organization behind MetisDAO, announced the creation of a roughly $100 million fund to accelerate ecosystem growth. Named the Metis Ecosystem Development Fund, it will allocate 4.6 million METIS tokens toward “sequencer mining, retroactive funding, new project deployments, and other initiatives.” Based on current token prices, the fund is now worth $322 million.
Additionally, according to an official blog post, Metis is expected to become the first Optimistic Rollup with a decentralized sequencer in early next year. Distribution from the Metis Ecosystem Development Fund will begin one week after the decentralized sequencer goes live. Jose Fabrega, Marketing Lead at Metis, stated in an interview that initial incentives for the sequencing pool come directly from this ecosystem fund.
Since its launch, Metis has attracted significant attention for its technical innovations. Recently, amid the broader crypto market recovery and fueled by meme coin trends across various blockchains—combined with support from the MetisDAO Foundation—interest in Metis has intensified. DefiLlama currently lists 44 protocols within the Metis ecosystem, some of which are multi-chain projects including Aave, Stargate, Synapse, Beefy, and SushiSwap.
With the upcoming launch of the decentralized sequencer and continued incentives from the ecosystem fund, new projects within the Metis ecosystem remain highly anticipated. Below, BlockBeats highlights several notable projects worth watching.
DeFi
Hermes
Hermes is a DEX built on Metis and a fork of Solidly. Positioned as a capital-efficient AMM, Hermes aims to offer users low-cost trades with near-zero slippage. Its V2 version introduced major upgrades such as cross-chain expansion, unified liquidity, decentralized liquidity management, and a new Gauge system.
According to CoinGecko, as of writing, its native token HERMES is priced at $0.09, up 221.7% over the past seven days. DefiLlama data shows Hermes’ TVL currently stands at $9.4 million.
Netswap
NetSwap is the first DEX in the Metis ecosystem, enabling swap transactions on the Metis network. Beyond standard DEX features, NetSwap also offers liquidity mining, staking, and a Launchpad platform.
According to CoinGecko, as of writing, its native token NETT is trading at $0.57, up 387.0% over the past seven days.
Hummus
Hummus Protocol is a single-sided AMM built on Metis that allows users to swap stablecoins with minimal loss. Its native token is HUM. Users can stake stablecoins to earn HUM and use their earned HUM rewards to boost returns on staked stablecoins.
According to CoinGecko, as of writing, HUM is priced at $0.035, up 268.4% over the past seven days.
Meme Coins
The meme coin craze initially sparked by blockchains like Solana and Avalanche has become a key indicator of current market sentiment. As previously noted, Metis’ background gives its ecosystem a natural affinity for meme culture.
VMUM
VMUM is a meme coin leveraging the name “Vitalik’s mother,” deployed on December 19. According to DEX SCREENER data, as of writing, VMUM is priced at $0.00007512, up 508% in the last 24 hours.
BARSIK
Founders’ pets have captured attention during the meme wave, and Barsik is none other than the pet cat of Vitalik’s mother. According to DEX SCREENER data, as of writing, BARSIK is priced at $0.002994, up 292% in the past 24 hours.
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