Manta Soars To $3.7B Valuation Ten Days After Launching Token

As crypto markets bounce back from yearly lows, Manta Network’s recently launched eponymous token is leading the charge.

MANTA is up 51% in the past week, making it the top gainer among the 100 most valuable digital assets, according to CoinGecko.

Launched on Jan. 18 with an airdrop for early adopters, MANTA is the governance token of the Manta Network, which is composed of two separate networks. The flagship chain is Manta Pacific, an Ethereum Layer 2 that uses Celestia for data availability. The other, called Manta Atlantic, is a Layer 1 chain built on Polkadot.

With over $1.7B in total value locked (TVL), Manta Pacific is the third largest Layer 2. However, it’s worth noting that MANTA tokens account for over half that figure. Since the airdrop, externally bridged TVL has dropped by $55M, according to L2beat.

This indicates that opportunistic traders may be moving assets off the network in pursuit of the next airdrop opportunity. In addition, the blockchain is processing just 1.5 transactions per second (TPS) – far fewer than leading L2s like Arbitrum and Optimism.

Manta recently completed an integration with Moonbeam to enable interoperability with the Polkadot ecosystem. It also plans to migrate Manta Pacific to a Polygon-based zkEVM solution in the near future.