How to evaluate Metis's decentralized sequencer mining mechanism?
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How to evaluate Metis's decentralized sequencer mining mechanism?
Metis's original rebellious move of abandoning ETH as the gas token unexpectedly laid the foundation for building its DeFi ecosystem.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Haotian
If Ethereum's ecosystem has already entered the "twilight years" of DeFi—defined by fierce competition over restaking points and locking up ETH liquidity—could Metis recreate a "nascent phase" of DeFi growth on layer2? By linking decentralized sequencers with @ENKIProtocol’s LST platform staking mining, such a revival may be possible. Here's my take:
1) As more and more restaking platforms emerge on Ethereum, native ETH assets become the most coveted prize in this battle. Platforms aggressively offer wrapped versions of ETH to attract users’ native ETH deposits. While these wrapped assets can circulate within DeFi systems, users lose the ability to redeem their original native ETH.
The reason is simple: imagine an LST platform whose holdings consist entirely of LRT receipts from other platforms, with no actual native ETH. Such a platform would be like a tree without roots. Naturally, every platform resorts to "squeezing maximum value" from user deposits—using creative incentives to get users to hand over their precious native ETH.
During the FOMO phase of restaking, users don’t mind much—they deposit ETH, receive liquid wrapped ETH (which remains tradable), earn EigenLayer points, collect LST platform rewards, and gain eligibility for future airdrops. Why not?
As long as these restaking platforms maintain safe composability—with no single point of failure—this setup seems sustainable. Users give up native ETH but gain liquid tokens and multi-platform reward opportunities. It appears rational. But all of this hinges on one critical assumption: that the restaking economy built around @eigenlayer will never collapse. When security issues arise and users rush to redeem their native ETH, it might already be too late.
This isn't meant to FUD Ethereum’s restaking DeFi ecosystem. In fact, the increasing number of staking and restaking platforms intensifies the scramble for native ETH. With everyone chasing the same pool of ETH, circulating supply shrinks, causing leverage across the DeFi Lego tower to rise ever higher. One could even argue this represents a new DeFi summer—an aggressive, high-leverage era.
Yet from another angle, this also reflects the signs of an aging ecosystem. The amount of unleveraged native assets in the market is limited, yet everyone is trying to build towering leveraged empires. Whoever secures native assets gets to build; everyone else follows suit. EigenLayer revitalized Ethereum’s DeFi landscape—but the risks beneath are hard to ignore.
2) As part of Ethereum’s layer2 ecosystem, Metis has taken some unconventional steps over the past few years:
1. From day one, it replaced $ETH as the gas token for its layer2 network, launching with Metis as the utility token. This establishes $METIS as the foundational native asset;
2. As an OP-Rollup, it adopted an off-chain decentralized storage DA solution, combined with submitting key verifiable data to Ethereum—a hybrid DA model. This significantly reduces gas costs and allows flexible adaptation as Ethereum’s blob space expands, enabling future-ready DA configurations and laying the groundwork for its Hybrid Rollup architecture;
3. It launched a decentralized sequencer system, incentivizing nodes with native token mining rewards. Once fully operational, this offers up to 20% APY. Importantly, this is base-layer yield—the kind of fundamental return comparable to staking ETH on Lido for ~4%. The utility value of the token is maximized here. The longer this native yield persists, the greater its catalytic effect on downstream DeFi composability. Consider that Lido’s current 4% yield continues driving innovation—imagine what 20% yield could do at the early stage of Metis’ DeFi ecosystem;
4. With strong native token incentives powering decentralized sequencer mining, we’re likely to see a wave of new LST platforms like @ENKIProtocol and @Artemisfinance. For capital wary of diving into the hyper-competitive restaking points race on mainnet, this presents a compelling alternative;
5. As numerous LST platforms emerge, LRT platforms will follow. Staking METIS generates eMetis, which not only earns points on LST platforms but can also be further staked on LRT protocols to compound yields. Meanwhile, other DeFi applications—DEXs, derivatives platforms, CDPs—will join this expanding liquidity relay. Gradually, Metis could replay the entire DeFi farming evolution that unfolded on Ethereum.
In short, while most layer2s struggle amid stagnation, Metis’ early decision to abandon ETH as gas token now appears visionary—it laid the foundation for a self-sustaining DeFi ecosystem. Its implementation of a decentralized sequencer at the base layer further solidifies the economic infrastructure needed for long-term growth.
Today, many Ethereum layer2s lag in DeFi development primarily because they lack a native asset capable of driving organic value accrual. Relying solely on wrapped ETH and governance tokens makes it nearly impossible to build a healthy, sustainable ecosystem.
Clearly, compared to those well-funded, billion-dollar-valued layer2 projects born with silver spoons, Metis remains a small player. However, if you believe in the paradigm of using native utility tokens to drive decentralized economic growth, then among all layer2s, Metis stands out as the most radical—and arguably the most promising—in terms of future DeFi potential.
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Haotian | CryptoInsight
