Mantle EcoFund has successfully deployed $10 million in investments across six leading DeFi projects within the Mantle ecosystem, namely Merchant Moe, INIT Capital, Butter, Renzo, MUFEX, and TsunamiX. The fund operates with a substantial capital pool of $200 million under the management of Mirana Ventures.
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This significant achievement follows the completion of the initial capital call and Mirana Ventures is preparing for a second capital call of $30 million, as outlined in MIP-24. The injection of new funds into these DeFi projects solidifies Mantle EcoFund’s commitment to fostering innovation and growth within the Mantle ecosystem.
The six DeFi projects, each bringing their own unique strengths to the ecosystem, include:
Merchant Moe, a decentralized automated market maker (AMM) (DEX);
INIT Capital, introducing a “Liquidity Hook” money market;
Butter.xyz, a Mantle-native DEX focused on trend-driven opportunities;
Renzo, an EigenLayer liquid restaging hub;
MUFEX, a multi-chain decentralized perpetual exchange; and TsunamiX, a gamified margin trading and spot DEX.
These investments allow Mantle EcoFund to offer liquidity support, in line with Mantle Governance’s MIP-26 guidelines.
The provision allows for combined liquidity support of up to 60 million USDx (stablecoins), 30,000 ETH and 120 million $MNT for decentralized applications (dApps) supported by EcoFund.
The six selected projects are integrating $mETH, the value-accumulating receipt token of the Mantle Mantle LSP liquid staking protocol – currently TVL’s fifth LSD according to DefiLlama, and $mUSD, the rebased wrapped version of the tokenized bearer note $USDY by Ondo Finance.
This integration offers native yield supported by real-world assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds and bank demand deposits, strengthening Mantle Ecosystem’s position as a best-in-class native yield yield powerhouse across LSPs and RWAs.
Merchant Moe, the AMM DEX from the Trader Joe’s team, quickly gained traction with 4.7k active users on launch day and $25 million in TVL in the first week. INIT Capital’s “Liquidity Hook” money market facilitates seamless lending, borrowing and yield strategies, while Butter.xyz targets self-identified degenerates, offering opportunities for trend-driven speculation.
“The Mantle team has built an extraordinary ecosystem with both unique innovators and veteran protocols. In the month since Butter launched, we’ve seen momentum grow every day. 2024 will be the year of the Cloak.”
@butterbagel_, CEO of Butter
Renzo, EigenLayer’s liquid restake hub, attracted $75 million in its first month. MUFEX, a decentralized perpetual exchange, and TsunamiX, a gamified margin trading DEX, introduce chains and gamification to the CEX experience.
The adoption of $mETH and $mUSD by these projects is seen as a positive development, offering users greater benefits and contributing to Mantle Ecosystem’s reputation as a yield leader. These projects join Mantle EcoFund’s existing portfolio projects, including LiquidX, Valent and Range Protocol.
“We are excited to see new ecosystem allies like Merchant Moe, INIT Capital, Butter, Renzo and MUFEX integrate $mETH and $mUSD,” said David Toh, partner at Mirana Ventures, operator of Mantle EcoFund.
“Adopting these yield tools delivers great benefits and a rewarding experience for users, and further strengthens Mantle Ecosystem’s status as a yield powerhouse hosting best-in-class native yield.”
David Toh, partner at Mirana Ventures
The move is expected to provide a rewarding experience to users, while strengthening Mantle Ecosystem’s position as the hub for best-in-class native performance.
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About Mantle EcoFund
Mantle EcoFund is an ecosystem risk fund established by the Mantle community through DAO governance to help fuel Mantle’s growth. The fund aims to catalyze and manage a $200 million capital pool and be the “first money” in innovative, high-quality early-stage projects built within the Mantle ecosystem. Mantle EcoFund is one of the largest ecosystem funds of its kind in the space. Projects wishing to develop Mantle are encouraged to contact Mantle EcoFund at https://www.mantle.xyz/ecofund.
Speaking of Cloak
Mantle Ecosystem includes an Ethereum layer 2 (L2) — Mantle Network, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) — Mantle Governance, one of the largest on-chain treasuries — Mantle Treasury, and a liquid Ether (ETH) staking protocol — Mantle LSP: All built on Ethereum. The Mantle token ($MNT) is the unified product and governance token of the ecosystem.
Mantle’s first major product is Mantle Network, an Ethereum L2. Mantle Network strives to be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Mantle Network’s modular architecture separates transaction execution, data availability and transaction intent into modules, which can be individually updated and adopt the latest innovations.
Mantle Network is the first L2 to collaborate with ETH’s EigenLayer retaking protocol for the data availability module. Adopting a rollup architecture, Mantle Network is secured by Ethereum. As the world’s first DAO-generated L2, Mantle Network is pioneering a vision for mass adoption of token-governed technologies.
The Mantle Token ($MNT) powers Mantle Network as a native gas token and ecosystem growth token and serves as Mantle Governance’s governance token. Likewise, all future Mantle products will be initiated by the community of Mantle token holders through voting and powered by the Mantle token.