Manta Network

About Manta Network (MANTA)

What Is Manta Network (MANTA)?

Manta Network is an Ethereum scaling project built around zero-knowledge applications. Its live network, Manta Pacific, is an EVM compatible Layer 2 where developers deploy ordinary Solidity contracts but can lean on zero-knowledge tooling for things like identity, proofs of eligibility, and hidden game state. MANTA is the network's token, used for governance and staking and issued on Ethereum, Manta Pacific, and BNB Chain.

Manta ran two networks for most of its life. Manta Atlantic was a Polkadot parachain focused on privacy preserving credentials and identity; Manta Pacific is the Ethereum Layer 2. Atlantic was retired in 2026, so Manta today is effectively a single network project centered on Pacific.

Official sources:

• Manta Network
• Manta documentation
• Manta Pacific explorer
• Source code on GitHub

Who Founded Manta Network? (History)

Manta Network was co-founded in 2020 by Victor Ji, Shumo Chu, and Kenny Li. Shumo Chu came from an academic systems and cryptography background, and the early product line reflected that: Manta's first work was zero-knowledge privacy tooling on Polkadot rather than a general purpose rollup.

The timeline that matters:

1. Manta Atlantic The Polkadot parachain launched first, aimed at private credentials, soulbound identity, and zkSBT style use cases.

2. Manta Pacific mainnet alpha, September 2023 Pacific launched as an Ethereum Layer 2 using a modified OP Stack deployed through Caldera.

3. Polygon CDK announcement, October 2023 Manta publicly announced a plan to convert Pacific into a zkEVM validium built on Polygon's Chain Development Kit, citing the absence of fault proofs in the OP Stack at the time.

4. Celestia data availability Pacific moved transaction data off Ethereum and onto Celestia to cut fees, which is the change that made it a validium style network rather than a pure rollup.

5. MANTA token generation, January 2024 MANTA was distributed through Binance Launchpool as its 44th project, with the token generation event completing on January 18, 2024.

6. Manta Atlantic deprecation, 2026 Staking rewards stopped on March 18, 2026, inbound bridge transfers closed on March 20, the chain entered read-only mode in June, and the parachain slot expired around August 1, 2026.

How Manta Network Works

Manta Pacific is a Layer 2 that settles to Ethereum and pays gas in ETH. Its chain identifier is 169, which a direct query to the public Manta Pacific RPC endpoint confirms. Execution is standard EVM, so existing Solidity contracts, wallets, and developer tooling work without modification.

The distinguishing architectural choice is where transaction data lives. Rather than posting full data to Ethereum, Pacific publishes to Celestia, with Ethereum retained as a fallback. That is what keeps fees low, and it is also the main trade-off: a network that keeps data off Ethereum inherits less of Ethereum's guarantees than a full rollup does.

Anyone integrating Manta Pacific should read the current risk profile rather than the original marketing. The independent Layer 2 risk tracker L2BEAT classifies Manta Pacific as an optimium built on the OP Stack that posts data to Celestia, notes that a fraud proof system is still under development, and records that critical contracts can be upgraded without a delay. The 2023 announcement of a Polygon CDK zkEVM conversion should therefore be read as a stated direction rather than as the deployed state; check the official docs and L2BEAT for the current implementation before assuming otherwise.

Key Ecosystem Components

• Manta Pacific, the EVM Layer 2 that carries essentially all current activity
• The Pacific bridge, used to move ETH and tokens between Ethereum and Pacific
• Celestia data availability, with Ethereum as the fallback data path
• Manta Atlantic, the retired Polkadot parachain, now relevant only for holders completing migration
• Zero-knowledge tooling and circuit libraries aimed at identity, credentials, and application level privacy

MANTA Token Utility

MANTA is used for:

• Governance voting on network decisions
• Staking to support network security, with the documentation describing an annual allocation to stakers
• Paying transaction fees on Manta Atlantic, where MANTA was the gas asset. On Manta Pacific, gas is paid in ETH, so MANTA is not the fee token on the network that remains active

On supply, the documentation describes one billion MANTA at launch plus a two percent yearly minting rate beginning January 30, 2024. MANTA therefore has no fixed maximum supply; it is an inflationary token by design, and a contract read on Manta Pacific shows a total above the original one billion, consistent with that schedule. The token is issued as an ERC-20 with 18 decimals; the address 0x95CeF13441Be50d20cA4558CC0a27B601aC544E5 is used on both Ethereum and Manta Pacific, and a separate address exists on BNB Chain.

What Makes Manta Network Unique?

Manta's positioning is that zero-knowledge features should be cheap enough to use casually. Most ZK applications fail on cost: proving and verification are expensive, and posting the associated data to Ethereum is expensive again. By moving data availability to Celestia while keeping full EVM equivalence, Manta aimed at an environment where a developer can ship a proof-heavy application without asking users to pay unusual fees.

How Manta Network Differs from Similar Chains

• Compared with Arbitrum and Optimism, Manta Pacific keeps data off Ethereum. Those networks post data to Ethereum and are classified as rollups; Manta trades some of that assurance for lower cost.
• Compared with Scroll and other zkEVM rollups, Manta reached market with an optimistic style OP Stack deployment first and treated the zero-knowledge conversion as a later phase.
• Compared with Mantle, the two share a modular philosophy and an alternative data availability layer, but Mantle is built around its own token and treasury model while Manta is built around ZK application tooling.

Use Cases of Manta Network

• Deploying Solidity applications that need cheap blockspace and want ZK primitives available
• Zero-knowledge identity and credentials, including proving an attribute without revealing the underlying document
• Games and applications with hidden state, where some information must stay private until a reveal
• DeFi applications that benefit from low fees and short finality

How Manta Network Is Secured

Manta Pacific settles to Ethereum, so Ethereum consensus underpins final settlement of state roots. Beyond that, the honest description is a work in progress. L2BEAT records that only whitelisted proposers can publish state roots, that a fraud proof system is under development, and that users can force transaction inclusion through Ethereum with a delay if the sequencer stops. It also flags that critical contracts are upgradeable, which is a meaningful trust assumption.

Risks and Considerations

• The network is not a full rollup. Keeping data on Celestia lowers fees and lowers guarantees at the same time.
• Fraud proofs are not yet live, and whitelisted proposers publish state roots, so withdrawals depend on a permissioned set behaving correctly.
• Upgradeable contracts without a timelock concentrate risk in whoever holds the upgrade keys.
• MANTA is inflationary. A yearly minting rate with no documented cap means dilution unless demand keeps pace.
• Atlantic's retirement created migration work. Holders who never moved MANTA off the parachain relied on the snapshot and airdrop process, and non-MANTA assets on Atlantic needed active migration.
• The commonly circulated description of Manta Pacific as a Polygon zkEVM chain is out of date relative to what independent trackers record. Verify architecture claims against current sources.

Why Manta Network Matters

Manta is a useful reference point for the modular thesis: a live network that split execution, settlement, and data availability across three systems, shipped real applications on it, and then retired its second chain when the parachain model stopped earning its keep. That consolidation is itself informative, and it makes Manta a cleaner project to evaluate today than it was when it ran two networks with different architectures and different security models.

Where Can You Buy Manta Network (MANTA)?

MANTA is listed on major centralized exchanges and is also traded on decentralized venues on Manta Pacific and Ethereum. Availability and pairs vary by jurisdiction.

Major Centralized Exchanges (CEX)

MANTA is commonly available on:

• Binance
• KuCoin
• Gate
• MEXC

Pairs are usually quoted against USDT and USDC. Because MANTA is issued on more than one chain, confirm the withdrawal network before moving tokens.

Storage Options After Purchase

After purchase, MANTA can be held:

• On an exchange, which is custodial
• In any EVM wallet configured for Ethereum, Manta Pacific, or BNB Chain
• In a hardware wallet paired with an EVM interface, for longer term storage

Add Manta Pacific with chain ID 169 and ETH as the gas currency, and keep a small amount of ETH on Pacific to pay fees. Verify the token contract address before adding MANTA manually.

Related Coins

Compare MANTA with other scaling and modular infrastructure assets on Coinrithm:

• Arbitrum (ARB)
• Optimism (OP)
• Celestia (TIA)
• Scroll (SCR)
• Mantle (MNT)