Mantle is an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) scaling solution designed to enhance transaction speeds and reduce costs for Ethereum transactions.
Built with a modular architecture, Mantle combines optimistic rollups technology with its bespoke Mantle DA data availability solution to provide a performant environment for decentralized app users.
How Mantle works
- Mantle is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), so it's compatible with Ethereum smart contracts and tools, making it easy for developers to transition to, or build on, Mantle.
- Mantle DA leverages EigenLayer's EigenDA tech to provide scalable and cost-effective data availability, reducing transaction fees.
- Today, Mantle is the 5th-largest Ethereum L2 per its $1.3 billion in total value locked (TVL).
What is Mantle?
Mantle is an L2 built on the OP Stack, an open-source, composable, and interoperable framework for creating scalable chains.
However, Mantle isn't a regular optimistic rollup. Instead, it's what is known as an optimium.
Like optimistic rollups, Mantle is designed to use fraud proofs and execute transactions offchain, i.e. outside Ethereum. What makes this L2 an optimium is how it maintains its data availability offchain via Mantle DA, while a traditional optimistic rollup uses onchain data availability through Ethereum.
Mantle makes this modular design tradeoff for reduced transaction costs and better scalability.
How does Mantle DA work?
Data availability refers to the assurance that all transaction data is accessible to network participants. Mantle DA, powered by EigenLayer's EigenDA solution, serves as the data availability layer for Mantle Network. Here's how it operates:
- Data encoding: Transactions processed by the Mantle execution layer are encoded into data chunks.
- Dispersal to DA Nodes: These data chunks are then distributed to DA nodes, which are responsible for storing the data securely.
- Attestation: DA nodes verify the integrity of the data chunks and provide cryptographic proofs of their availability.
- Aggregation and submission: Verified data proofs are aggregated and periodically submitted to the Ethereum mainnet, ensuring that the offchain data is accessible and verifiable.
This design approach significantly reduces transaction costs by keeping most of the data offchain while maintaining the security and integrity of the network through regular onchain attestations.
Why Mantle?
While most L2s use Ethereum for onchain DA, internal tests by the Mantle team suggest that the Mantle DA approach can offer transaction cost savings of approximately 90% compared to these traditional L2s. So first and foremost, it can be very cost-effective.
Combine this dynamic with Mantle's EVM compatibility and its network being downstream of OP Stack upgrades, and this optimium stands out as a compelling offering in Ethereum's current scaling scene.
How to invest in Mantle?
The native token of the Mantle ecosystem is MNT. It is used to pay for transactions on the network and as a governance instrument.
At the time of this guide's latest update, MNT was trading around $0.84 per token with a market capitalization of approximately $2.73 billion.
MNT can be purchased or sold on various cryptocurrency exchanges, including large centralized exchanges like Kraken as well as decentralized exchanges like Uniswap (Ethereum) or Agni Finance (Mantle).
Just remember, if you purchase on an Ethereum DEX, you will need to bridge your MNT to Mantle to begin using the L2.
Top Mantle projects
The Mantle app ecosystem features more than 100 projects today. Some of the top experiences to explore here include:
- 🔄 Agni.Finance — currently the largest DEX on Mantle
- 🔗 Karak — a universal restaking layer with Mantle support
- 💰 Ondo Finance — a DeFi protocol that offers tokenized U.S. Treasuries
- 🪙 Pendle — a decentralized exchange for tokenized future yields