Metis' New Developments Drive Token Price and TVL Surge: 8 Ecosystem Projects to Watch
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Metis' New Developments Drive Token Price and TVL Surge: 8 Ecosystem Projects to Watch
This article will analyze, review, and summarize Metis's market performance and latest developments, as well as notable ecosystem projects worth watching under its hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars ecological fund incentives.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Nancy, PANews
The veteran Layer2 project Metis once attracted significant attention due to its association with "Vitalik's mom," and recently, the surge in its token price and TVL has made it a hot topic in the market again. This article by PANews analyzes and reviews Metis' market performance and latest developments, as well as notable ecosystem projects under its multi-hundred-million-dollar ecosystem funding initiative.
Ranking Among Top Three L2s, Advancing Technologically and Through Ecosystem Incentives
Recently, Metis’ strong market performance has sparked discussions within the community. According to L2BEAT data, as of January 17, Metis’ TVL exceeded $990 million, marking a nearly 55.2% increase over the past seven days—second only to Arbitrum One and OP Mainnet, ranking third among Ethereum L2s by total value locked. Meanwhile, CoinGecko data shows that $METIS has risen approximately 396.8% over the past 30 days.
As a star project from the previous cycle, Metis previously raised $1 million in angel and seed funding and $3 million in Series A funding. It quickly gained fame in the competitive Layer2 space due to founder Elena Sinelnikova’s friendship with Natalia Ameline, mother of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. According to L2BEAT, Metis saw its TVL soar above $700 million during 2022 but subsequently declined steadily.
Over the past month, however, favorable conditions following Ethereum’s Cancun upgrade have placed Layer2 at the center of market focus. Metis, in particular, has surged ahead by leveraging narratives around decentralized sequencers and substantial financial incentives.
The sequencer is a key component in Layer2 architecture, responsible for batching and ordering thousands of transactions before compressing them into a single transaction confirmed on Layer1—reducing data submission costs and improving transaction speed. However, centralization poses risks such as single points of failure and monopolistic control. As a result, projects like Arbitrum and Optimism have identified decentralized sequencers as a future development goal.
Metis claims to be the first revenue-sharing Optimistic Rollup with a decentralized sequencer. It adopts a model where all node operators share revenue, allowing token holders to stake assets to earn income and mining rewards. To join the sequencer pool, operators must stake at least 20,000 $METIS tokens.
According to recent updates, MetisDAO has passed a proposal to decentralize the testnet sequencer and launch community testing. This aims to deploy sequencer infrastructure on a decentralized testnet and initiate community testing, enabling Metis developers to stress-test the new architecture. The first phase of community testing began on January 15. Metis’ product focus for Q1 2024 centers on launching its decentralized PoS sequencer.
In addition to technological progress, Metis announced a $100 million fund called the “Metis Ecosystem Development Fund” at the end of 2023 to accelerate ecosystem growth. The fund will allocate 4.6 million $METIS tokens toward sequencer mining, retroactive grants, new project deployments, and other initiatives. These allocations are scheduled for Q1 2024 and are expected to support users building NFTs, DeFi, security projects, and more on Metis. Based on the latest $METIS price, the value of these allocated tokens exceeds $540 million.
Metis Ecosystem Still in Early Stages, Mostly Low-Market-Cap Projects
According to Metis’ official website, its ecosystem remains in early stages, comprising only 87 projects across areas such as cross-chain bridges, DeFi, NFTs, DEXs, GameFi, and infrastructure. PANews highlights eight noteworthy ecosystem projects, most of which have market caps below $30 million.
However, behind the soaring TVL, concerns about "false prosperity" persist. As previously reported by PANews, despite impressive TVL figures, actual usage of the Metis blockchain remains relatively low compared to other Layer2 networks. In terms of TVL distribution, only a small portion supports DeFi ecosystem development, with half allocated to the lending protocol Aave. Moreover, half of Metis’ TVL comes from newly minted tokens, and much of the growth stems from surging token prices rather than organic activity.
Wagmi (WAGMI)
Wagmi is a DeFi suite developed by renowned developer Daniele Sestagalli, rebranding his cross-chain yield platform Popsicle Finance. It aims to deploy a permissionless decentralized exchange allowing anyone to create liquidity pools. Wagmi recently launched on Metis and received a $2 million grant from the Metis Ecosystem Development Fund—the fund’s first official disbursement. Recently, Wagmi also announced a partnership with DWF Labs, which purchased 26.6 million WAGMI tokens for $500,000 USD (average price of $0.01879).
CoinGecko data shows that as of January 17, HUM was priced near $0.022, with a circulating market cap exceeding $30.81 million.
Hera Finance (HERA)
Hera Finance is an AI-powered multichain DEX aggregator designed to deliver user-friendly experiences and robust developer tools for seamless on-chain swaps. It has integrated with Arbitrum, Metis, Avalanche, Base, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Fantom, Mantle, and Optimism.
CoinGecko data shows that as of January 17, HERA was priced around $5.71, with a circulating market cap of approximately $22.526 million.
NetSwap (NETT)
NetSwap is a DEX operating on Metis Andromeda, using the same AMM model as Uniswap, offering trading, liquidity mining, staking, and a Launchpad. According to DeFiLlama, as of January 17, NetSwap’s TVL reached $12.84 million—an increase of 260% over the past month—making it the second-largest native project after Maia DAO.
CoinGecko data shows that as of January 17, NETT was priced around $1.63, with a circulating market cap exceeding $14.011 million.
Tethys Finance (TETHYS)
Tethys Finance is a decentralized exchange and lending protocol launched in 2021, aiming to provide fast, secure, reliable, and advanced native DeFi applications for the Metis Andromeda network to meet various trading needs. At the end of last year, Tethys Finance launched its yield-bearing stablecoin, TethysUSD.
CoinGecko data shows that as of January 17, HUM was priced around $0.71, with a circulating market cap exceeding $7.571 million.
Hermes (HERMES)
Hermes is a DEX launched in 2022 as a fork of Solidly, aiming to offer users low-cost trades with near-zero slippage. Currently, Hermes has released its V2 version, enabling users to swap across any chain using concentrated and unified liquidity. The HERMES token can be used for voting, staking, and boosting rewards.
CoinGecko data shows that as of January 17, HERMES was priced around $0.079, with a circulating market cap of approximately $7.386 million.
Maia DAO (MAIA)
Maia DAO is the first decentralized, community-owned reserve currency protocol on Metis, housing DEX Hermes, Transparent Automated Liquidity On-chain Strategy (TALOS), and the omnichain liquidity protocol Ulysses. According to DeFiLlama, as of January 17, Maia DAO’s TVL exceeded $14.93 million, up 155% over the past month.
The MAIA token was fairly launched via community emission. Staking grants voting rights, governance participation, and dividend entitlements. The official site states that 60.4% of the tokens are currently staked.
CoinGecko data shows that as of January 17, MAIA was priced around $37.7, with a fully diluted valuation of $67.91 million.
Hummus Exchange (HUM)
Hummus Exchange is a single-sided staking decentralized AMM designed for swapping stablecoins USDT, USDC, and DAI on the Metis blockchain. It eliminates impermanent loss for liquidity providers and offers ultra-low slippage for traders.
CoinGecko data shows that as of January 17, HUM was priced around $0.032, with a circulating market cap exceeding $3.567 million.
Revenant (GAMEFI)
Revenant is the first decentralized gaming platform on the Metis network catering to gamers, game developers, and investors. It has already launched its flagship game, Battle of Olympus.
CoinGecko data shows that as of January 17, GAMEFI was priced around $1.63, with a circulating market cap exceeding $3.076 million.
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