This time last year, Mantle had just waved hello to the world and was ready to launch Mantle Network Testnet. We've come such a long way since then, and as we kick off new plans in 2024, it's time to dive into a 2023: Wrapped for Mantle — we evolved from a layer-2 (L2) modular network to a greater ecosystem that features not only Mantle Network and its native token $MNT, but Mantle Governance, Mantle Treasury, Mantle Liquid Staking Protocol (LSP), and also new yield-bearing tokens $mETH and $mUSD that have set the stage for a spectacular 2024.

Here's a full rewind to help you catch Mantle's best 2023 moments.

On-Chain Metrics: Battle-Tested & Ready to Accelerate

*Mantle Network recorded a high water mark in on-chain activity and a new ATH in transactions per second (TPS) on Dec. 20, 2023 due to a surge in inscriptions — Sequencer, Data Availability (DA) and Explorer remained fully operational and stable.

Major Milestones & Core Launches

In the first half of the year, Mantle was focused on building the foundations of a modular L2 rollup — we partnered with EigenLayer for the data availability module to deliver on a high throughput network at significantly reduced costs, while secured by Ethereum.

We invited developers to create and deploy their creations on Mantle Network Testnet across two phases, while expanding Mantle's wider community at the same time. To better support promising, innovative decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, Mantle was quick to launch the Mantle EcoFund, a $200 million catalyzed capital pool, to give projects a needed boost and drive their decentralized applications (dApps) to success quickly.

Mantle Ecosystem now comprises Mantle Network, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) — Mantle Governance, one of the largest on-chain treasuries — Mantle Treasury, and an Ether (ETH) liquid staking protocol — Mantle LSP: all built on Ethereum.

In the latter half of 2023, here are our key highlights:

• Mantle Network Mainnet Alpha: Mantle Network developers and users gained access to a burgeoning ecosystem of mainnet dApps, and also Mantle Network tools such as its Mainnet Bridge, Explorer, Safe Multisig and more
• Citizens of Mantle NFT Collection: Our inaugural NFT collection, where users could acquire their very own unique Mantle companion through either a complimentary mint or by bidding for one on secondary marketplaces such as Mintle
  • ~38,000 Citizens of Mantle NFT holders
  • Release of 19,000 add-on traits for users to upgrade their unique NFTs based on their preference
• Mantle Journey: Our ecosystem engine that tracks and indexes all community activity within Mantle Ecosystem, from transactions, delegation, voting, bridging, addling liquidity and more — and a massive 25M $MNT reward pool to be distributed
  • More than 206,000 participants who have minted their Mantle Journey Soulbound tokens (MJSBTs)
  • 60 protocols registered under the protocols segment
  • Introducing Mantle Moonshot with the collaboration of eight (8) ecosystem allies to distribute 8 token reward pools to event participants, namely KTX.Finance, AGNI Finance, ApeX Protocol, Lendle, FusionX Finance, MINU, iZUMi Finance and Minterest
• Showcase Apps: Featuring some of Mantle's biggest ecosystem allies and unlocking the potential of promising collaborations that users can leverage for greater gains
• Mantle Liquid Staking Protocol (LSP): A permissionless, non-custodial ETH liquid staking protocol deployed on Ethereum L1 and governed by Mantle, and where users can accumulate yield by staking their ETH on the protocol
  • $364M+ in TVL, more than 150,000 ETH staked since its launch on Dec. 4, 2023
  • Target APY at 7.2% with Double-Dose Drive beginning Dec. 22, 2023 and earliest end date on April 1, 2024

In particular, the introduction of $mETH and $mUSD positioned Mantle as a yield powerhouse, driven to provide best-in-class native yield to its ecosystem of users.

• Mantle Staked Ether $mETH | Stake Now: $mETH is the value-accumulating receipt token for Mantle's liquid staking protocol, Mantle LSP — users can stake ETH to receive $mETH and leverage multiple Mantle Ecosystem $mETH integrations that give $mETH holders an added boost to their holdings — the list of dApps and exchanges that have integrated $mETH grows day by day
• Tokenized bearer note $USDY and its rebasing version $mUSD | Convert Now: USD Yield ($USDY) token is a tokenized note secured by short-term U.S. Treasuries and bank demand deposits, and is now available on Mantle Network under a collaboration with Ondo Finance. Its rebasing version, $mUSD, is designed to maintain a consistent peg to $1, with interest distributed via new token units by Ondo Finance.
• Mantle Treasury: In accordance with MIP-28, Mantle Treasury has committed $1 Billion in Yield-Seeking TVL (USD, ETH, BTC, and MNT) to subscribe to underlying yield-bearing instruments, and deploy liquidity to bootstrap Mantle Network applications.

New MIPs and Discussions

A total of 10 proposals were put up on Mantle Snapshot for voting by the $BIT and $MNT community, starting from BIP-19. Proposals were focused on the allocation of treasury resources, the establishment of Mantle EcoFund and a Mantle Economics Committee, $MNT tokenomics optimization and support for Mantle Network applications. More than 50,000 holders cast their votes for these proposals and took part in our governance process, with a record-breaking 12,145 voters exercising their voting rights on MIP-28.

After the merger, the following MIPs were successfully passed:

• MIP-28: For more active deployment of Mantle Treasury resources to support ecosystem growth through partnerships and liquidity support for applications, and to expand beyond the initial subscriptions and deployments under MIP-25 and MIP-26 — such as Ondo USDY, Lido wstETH, and Mantle LSP — which are soon approaching their allocation limits
• MIP-27: Implementation a new migration smart contract or migration service that can restrict the automatic migratability of FTX Group’s $BIT tokens, pending the resolution of related issues
• MIP-26: In accordance with the MIP-25 framework, to provide (1) liquidity support for applications — up to a combined allowance of 60M USDx, 30k ETH, and 120M MNT; (2) seed liquidity for RWA-yield backed stablecoins — up to a combined allowance of 60M USDx; (3) liquidity support for third-party bridges — up to a combined allowance of 10M USDx, and 5k ETH
• MIP-25: Authorize the (1) establishment of Mantle Economics Committee as a sub-governance body of Mantle Governance; (2) Mantle LSD and Lido ETH staking strategies, with a combined allowance of up to 200k ETH, and Lido ETH staking strategies up to an individual allowance of 40k ETH
• MIP-24: Authorize the establishment of the Mantle EcoFund with $100M from Mantle Treasury and $100 million via external matching capital from Strategic Venture Partners when they co-invest with the Mantle EcoFund opportunistically
• MIP-23: $MNT supply optimization, in which 3 billion $BIT tokens currently held in Mantle Treasury will not be converted to $MNT but burned
• MIP-22: Laying out the design of $MNT, conversion parameters, and asset handling

Ecosystem Expansion

We shook hands with amazing ecosystem allies in the past year — Mantle is thrilled to continue working with hundreds of dApps across diverse pillars.

• Get to Know Mantle's Showcase Apps
  • Ondo Finance: Ondo is a blockchain infrastructure company building institutional-grade products on-chain, leading in tokenized securities with a focus on tokenizing U.S. Treasuries.
  • Range Protocol: Range Protocol is building the infrastructure for on-chain asset management through non-custodial vaults where sophisticated vault managers can run their automated strategies with transparent on-chain execution.
  • ValentFi: Valent offers a security-first and governance-free approach to DeFi lending on Mantle.
  • TsunamiX: A gamified margin trading and spot exchange that aims to redefine leveraged trading and liquidity provision.
  • Mintle: A freshly-minted secondary NFT marketplace launched in collaboration with Rarible, for NFT projects built on Mantle.
  • INIT Capital: Building Liquidity Hook Money Market on Mantle. Lend, Borrow & Access Yield Strategies seamlessly with Liquidity Hooks.
  • Ethena: A synthetic dollar protocol built on Ethereum which delivers a crypto-native solution for money that is not reliant on traditional banking system infrastructure, and will be bringing its synthetic dollar, $USDe, to Mantle Network.
  • Merchant Moe: AMM DEX built by Trader Joe team, dedicated to building a liquidity hub that will become the new cornerstone DEX of the ecosystem.
  • Butter.xyz: A DEX tailored for degens, emphasizing trend-driven opportunities and fostering a transparent, fair environment.
  • HyperPlay: A web3-native game launcher and game store aggregator that allows users to bring their wallet, tokens, and NFTs into every native or browser game.
• All dApps on Mainnet: You can find the full list of Mantle Network Mainnet's ecosystem dApp on the ecosystem page, and a special shoutout to all of our core partners and biggest supporting dApps that have been with Mantle Network across its various initiatives and stages of growth.

We've gone on air with the teams of many of these projects that've found a home on Mantle Ecosystem — totalling up to more than 120 AMAs across the year on Mantle's official social media channels and also ecosystem channels, featuring an extensive guest line-up of well-known thought leaders in the industry and project team members. As a result, we introduced four AMA series to our community:

• Mantle Ecowaves: Shedding a spotlight on groups of several projects by categories, Ecowaves gives the community greater insight into both new and existing interesting dApps on Mantle Network.
• Mantle Showcase Radio: We give the stage to Mantle's Showcase Apps as the community gets some insights into why they're Showcase Apps and sneak peeks into upcoming collaborations between Mantle and these dApps.
• Ecosystem-Community Deep Dives: Founders, builders, and community leaders from across the ecosystem join us to demo their products, host workshops, play games, and mint exclusive NFTs. These hands-on sessions are driving new user adoption across dApps on Mantle.
• DeFi Uncovered: Helmed by our resident ecosystem researchers Derek (@0xavarek) and Edmund (@DeFi_Maestro), these monthly episodes cover trending topics in the wider DeFi industry and interesting DeFi developments within Mantle Ecosystem.

Thank you to the community members who consistently listened in — and let us know on X/Twitter, Discord or Telegram who you'd like to hear from in future sessions.

The Connections We Made

Mantle left its footprint at 43 global events this year — from Miami Hack Week to ETHDenver, Scaling Ethereum, Ethereum CC Paris, Token2049 Singapore, Korea and Taipei Blockchain Weeks, we came face to face with thousands of event goers, crypto-enthusiasts, potential collaborators and more!

At the same time, we also had the privilege to co-host events with Mantle Ecosystem Initiatives Sozu Haus, EduDAO and Game7, and ETHGlobal.

Unforgettable Moments

• Largest Mantle team presence at ETHDenver
• Launching Mantle Network Mainnet at EthCC Paris
• Hosting our very first VIP event in Paris
• Unveiling our biggest physical booth at Token2049
• Sharing a Mantle-favorite swag — the Mantle Bicycle Pepe — with our community
• Vitalik Buterin dropped by the Mantle booth at Ethereum Singapore!

You saw us on stage for more than 30 talks, panels or discussions with other leading L2s and leaders in the blockchain space, including Chief Alchemist Jordi Alexander, Head of Ecosystem Research Derek, Public Liaison Igneus Terrenus and many others — we look forward to more of the team presenting their insights at future events in 2024.

28 Hackathons, 960+ Submitted Projects

We teamed up with various ecosystem collaborators, Mantle Ecosystem Initiatives and, of course, the ETHGlobal team to sponsor or co-host a total of 28 hackathons in 2023, in hacker houses all over the world. We had both building gigabrains and aspiring L2 developers join us for this journey, from Miami Hack Week all the way to ETHIndia, our first and last hacking events of the year.

• 963 total Mantle Network submissions in various categories
• Builds in the DeFi, UX and infra/tooling categories were the most popular
• Distributed more than $180,000 worth of bounty rewards to winning projects
• 9 winning projects were invited to further share their insights on building their innovative project(s) on Mantle Network via Builder Sessions on Mantle's Discord, including Turtleshell, UniOwn, MINAmal VRF, LegaSeed, IDriss, Gumrua, Facet.wiki, Common and Cognoscenti

Shoutout to Sozu Haus, EduDAO, Antalpha and Biconomy for co-hosting several exciting hackathons and hacker houses with Mantle!

Community Highlights

Mantle's community recorded more than 530,000 followers on X/Twitter, 334,000 on Discord and 93,000 on Telegram in a little over a year.

As we reach out to our global community, Mantle has also established a presence in our Mandarin, Russian and Japanese-speaking communities to bring these community members customized content, insights and events! Users can expect greater localized initiatives and exchanges with some of the thought leaders, projects and influencers they're more familiar with in the coming months. Mantle's team, comprising of members from 19 different countries, will continue to deliver the best of Mantle to users and developers across the globe.

We've received overwhelming support from the community in discussions, providing feedback, participating in both big and small events, voting, and so much more. Some of our best highlights:

• Total Quest Participants (JokeRace, QuestN, Galxe & Zealy): 372,631
• Total Community Events and Initiatives: 43
• Active Voters (Since January 2023): Peaked at 12,145 voters (in MIP-28)
• Best Memes Shared

2024: Further, Higher, Faster

(1) Technical Upgrades

We'll soon be deploying a new Mantle Network v2 testnet soon that is compatible with the new OP stack, but with specialized adaptations for the Bedrock upgrade. Developers and protocols will be able to experience the new network, bridge, explorer and faucet in a testing environment. Above all, we stay committed to ensuring that Mantle Network delivers on high throughput and hyperscaled performance at significantly reduced transaction fees, all the while secured by Ethereum.

(2) Build More Yield-Bearing Assets — Adding $USDe to the Mix

As Mantle continues to deliver the best native yield to its community, we continue to develop new offerings and use cases for $MNT, $mETH, $mUSD and more, including more options for staking, sharing ecosystem tokens or getting our tokens supported by our core partners and beyond.

We are also geared up to welcome in Q1 2024 Ethena's delta-neutral synthetic dollar $USDe, which is collateralized by assets outside of legacy banking systems that can still leverage liquidity from both centralized and decentralized exchanges while minimizing counterparty risk, as Ethena's first cross-chain deployment. $USDe aims to be widely adopted across Mantle L2 applications, and what's more, $mETH will be a constituent of Ethena's $USDe basket.

(3) Mantle Journey: New Year, New Season

Mantle Journey Season Alpha, the inaugural round for our community engagement program, is slated to end in January 2024 — thanks to consistent community feedback, we've made critical adjustments to Season Alpha. These adjustments will help us design an upgraded version of Mantle Journey in the next season, complete with the addition of more Mantle Ecosystem protocols!

As Mantle Journey Season Alpha comes to a close, participants (users and protocols) can look forward to the distribution of the 25M $MNT reward pool — more details to come soon.

On top of that, we'll be introducing more community-focused initiatives and greater rewards this year.

(4) Showcase App Collaboration & Growth

We've seen many unique developments borne out of alliances with Showcase Apps, and in 2024, we'll be accelerating Showcase App expansion and coming up with new offerings for Mantle Ecosystem. These will be centred around liquidity provision, yield accumulation and other DeFi innovations as we stay ahead of the curve.