A Letter from the Founder of Manta Network to the Manta Community Members
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A Letter from the Founder of Manta Network to the Manta Community Members
For us, users and the community mean everything. We hope to showcase Manta's continuous development and gather more feedback through voice, text, and various forms of communication.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsTo Mantalorians, dear members of the Manta community:
Hello everyone. From the founder's perspective, I’d like to share our progress over these past four months since TGE. To us, users and the community mean everything. Through voice, text, and various forms of communication, we hope to keep you informed about Manta’s continuous development while gathering your valuable feedback.
First, let’s address what many of you care most about—TVL. There has been a notable decline from $2B to around $800M. We believe this is largely due to the extremely high yields currently being offered by other L2s and restaking projects across the market. Everyone is now adopting Manta’s “New Paradigm,” turning the model of liquidity-staking for airdrops into a standard practice for nearly every L2 (regardless of when they plan to launch on mainnet). Although Manta has continued evolving with our "Renew Paradigm" to give ecosystem projects better opportunities to grow, we’ve observed that many users aren’t particularly interested in ecosystem projects—they’re primarily chasing chain-level yields. This puts us in a difficult position: either distribute an astonishing amount of MANTA tokens to maintain TVL, or accept TVL attrition. When we realized that ecosystem projects under the Renew Paradigm weren’t attracting sufficient engagement, we pivoted toward a different strategy:
1) With today’s launch of Manta CeDeFi, we are bringing funding rate yields—the highest returns available in market-neutral strategies—on-chain for BTC, ETH, and stablecoins. All assets can now earn relatively high native yields through CeDeFi products. This approach offers more sustainable and stable returns than subsidizing yields with MANTA tokens. As more L2s launch and their valuations shrink, it’s becoming clear that the era of boosting TVL through native token incentives is largely over. Beyond CeDeFi, Manta is also actively building in the RWA space. We partnered early with USDM, the most compliant native-yield-bearing stablecoin based in the U.S., and you’ll see further developments from this collaboration. In Asia, we’ve joined forces with Hong Kong’s Cyberport to advance institutional blockchain adoption and promote financial institutions’ on-chain activities.
2) We will continue growing Manta’s ecosystem. Our ecosystem projects have expanded to over 200, with more than 50 listed on DeFiLlama, demonstrating a comprehensive and well-rounded ecosystem without any glaring gaps. However, what Manta truly needs are builders who are genuinely committed to continuously building superior products within our ecosystem. Like Ethereum and all EVM chains, Manta has no shortage of builders, but there’s still insufficient collaboration and long-term dedication to iterating within the ecosystem. We’ve seen promising potential through our zk app accelerator—projects like Nimble and Gull stand out as uniquely Manta-native innovations. That said, previous coordination efforts under the Renew Paradigm encountered issues: ZeroLend’s airdrop was delayed, StakeStone failed to receive EigenLayer points, and some ecosystem projects faced technical constraints that slowed down iteration. For these shortcomings, we sincerely apologize to the community. We’ve learned from these experiences and will ensure future yield programs are implemented earlier and more effectively. Overall, Manta’s foundation remains strong: ultra-low gas fees, direct Binance ETH deposits and withdrawals, and a highly open environment. Moving forward, we’ll host more hackathons, further open our governance and grant application systems, and work hand-in-hand with the community to drive large-scale adoption.
3) On infrastructure, we’re integrating the Type1 prover and striving to become the first multi-prover L2 within the OP Stack. At the base layer for zk applications, we’re advancing product integrations for RWA-related use cases. We’re also exploring more decentralized solutions, such as a decentralized sequencer. While Manta is going through a challenging phase now, it’s nowhere near as tough as early 2023. Manta still boasts a powerful global community—whether we walk through New York, Bali, Hong Kong, or Korea, people recognize the Manta logo and come up to talk. This year, Manta’s founders have relocated to Asia, deepening corporate partnerships and driving real-world adoption with visible results. We continue building, just as we have for the past four years—not necessarily aiming to lead in every area, but consistently delivering products that make participation more engaging for users and builders alike. We keep co-hosting events—always free of charge—with ecosystem partners and even competitors, cultivating a positive and open brand. Just as we were the first modular L2 and the first native-yield L2 to launch mainnet, we remain focused on rapid iteration and fast product rollouts. There are many L2s, but as we saw with the NFTs from the New Paradigm campaign, Tier 1 backers may be common—but being the first modular L2? That’s something only Manta can claim. It’s the result of relentless effort from our team and unwavering support from our community. We look forward to seeing Manta’s ecosystem flourish—and to meeting more of you within it.
Best,
Victor Ji
Co-Founder, Manta Network
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