Mantle Network drives Ethereum’s scalability as a Layer-2 solution. It uses modular architecture for fast transactions and low fees, while being built on Optimistic Rollups and EigenDA. This also ensures that the network and Ethereum remain secure. Recent updates and top dapps show Mantle’s rise in DeFi and beyond.
Mantle’s mainnet launched in July 2023, and in the past two years it grew to now boasts $1.38 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL). As a result, Mantle now ranks fourth among L2 networks. Last year’s shift to OP Stack, enabled meta transactions and fee optimizations. In Q1 2025, the network processed over 2.1 million transactions, while the market cap for stablecoins increased by 27%.
This makes Mantle Network very suitable for growth. Moreover, the network has allocated $200 million for developer grants. They want to bring in innovative dapps in rising markets such as RWA, DePIN and AI. Mantle is now well positioned for further growth, but this would not be possible without some powerful upgrades in the past 6 months.
Recent developments in the Mantle ecosystem
The Mantle ecosystem has gone through some rigorous updates in the past 6 months. Back in March the network became the first L2 to fully integrate EigenDA, which heavily improves data availability. This also makes the network more censorship resistant. It was also during the first 3 months of the year that Mantle initiated the Mantle Ecofund to allocate $200 million to support dapp development and pushing for growth through DeFi and gaming projects.
This has resulted in the Mantle Games Fest. During this event, organized together with HyperPlay Gaming, gamers could win 300,000 MNT in rewards by playing six different games. They also offered a pool of 1.5 million MNT to those who lock their tokens, with a maximum multiplier of 3x.
Similar to what we’ve seen across the industry, Mantle launched an initiative to attract AI-powered innovation. They launched the MantleX AI Initiative, which aims to utilize AI advancements to enhance smart contract functionality. Simply said, they want to make smart contracts even smarter.
Five key Q1 2025 highlights
- Over $1.2 billion worth of MNT was locked into the ecosystem by the community.
- The TVL in the DeFi sector hit $253 million with Merchant Moe, Treehouse Finance and AGNI leading the numbers.
- Upgraded to modular architecture with the integration of EigenLayer’s EigenDA
- Improved chain finality for bridging with the Succinct integration, speeding up the process by 168x.
- Mantle welcomed projects like Bungee, POAP, INFINIT, Chainlink, and Omega, among others.
Mantle onchain activity
At the time of writing, Mantle has more than 10.9 million wallet addresses live. This community completes 233,330 transactions per day. However, this includes dapp transactions, peer-to-peer transactions, and transactions between user wallets and centralized exchanges. Among the tokens with the highest market cap, you will find wETH, wstETH and mETH, but also solvBTC, USDT and USDY.
Since the start of the year, the average number of transactions per user has been increasing from 5 to over 25 transactions per wallet. However, the number of daily active accounts has seen a bit of a decline, dropping from 50,000 in January to 10,000 in June. According to data from Dune Analytics, Mantle now has 122,713 active wallets in the past 30 days.
Within this L2 system there’s still plenty of space for dapps to differentiate themselves. However, let’s take a look at the dapps on Mantle.
- Mantle Network has doubled down on mini-apps, including some on Telegram. Games like the role-playing game Aria, and the collecting cat game Catizen, stand out. In addition, there’s the MMORPG Metacene, which has been in development for quite some time.
- Mantle is still a young network, and among the top dapps we find engagement and reward platforms Galxe and Layer3. In the past 30 days, Layer3 is even the most used application on Mantle, with 3,230 active wallets.
- Then it should also not be a surprise to learn that the DeFi category is well-represented among the top dapps. Multichain decentralized exchange ODOS leads the pack with $82 million flowing into its smart contracts. Then there’s bridging protocol Stargate, followed by lending platform Lendle.
Closing words
Mantle Network, though still in its early stages, has shown remarkable progress as a Layer-2 solution, blending scalability, low-cost transactions, and robust security to drive Ethereum’s evolution. With a thriving DeFi ecosystem, and innovative initiatives like the MantleX AI Initiative and Mantle Games Fest, the network is carving out a strong position in the competitive L2 landscape.
Strategic upgrades, such as EigenDA integration and the $200 million Ecofund, underscore its commitment to fostering cutting-edge dapps in AI, DePIN, and RWA. Despite a dip in daily active accounts, the surge in per-user transactions signals deepening engagement. As Mantle continues to attract developers and expand its ecosystem, it is well-poised to rival top L2 networks and shape the future of decentralized innovation.
