Manta Network - a decentralized security protocol in the Polkadot ecosystem
The Manta Network is a privacy protocol for DeFi that also has a decentralized privacy DEX feature. Manta Network is a first-level blockchain, confidentiality will be embedded in its architecture, i.e. it is not an L2 solution on top of another blockchain. By using Substrate, Manta will take advantage of the vast Polkadot ecosystem while addressing its existing challenges.
The Manta Network uses zk-SNARKs technology to provide complete anonymity, high throughput and interconnection.
As I already noted, the Manta Network project includes not only a decentralized privacy protocol of the first level, but also a decentralized confidential DEX, as well as a decentralized landing protocol and a protocol for synthetic assets that will be developed in the future.
The Decentralized Anonymous Payment Protocol (DAP) is based on the zk-SNARK. It allows users to exchange Polkadot and parachain tokens for similar confidential tokens, make payments or other interaction with these privacy tokens, and then redeem their native coins.
One idea is that through minting, users can wrap their tokens (for example, native Polkadot) in privacy tokens (privacy-Polkadot) using the Manta Network.
The decentralized anonymous exchange (DAX) protocol is based on AMM and zk-SNARK. Users can exchange confidential tokens anonymously on the platform. The pricing method in DAX is no different from regular AMM. Manta's token revenue model is based on swap fees and transaction fees.
The team will also develop products such as synthetic asset stablecoins based on Manta and integrate Manta products into decentralized private lending protocols in the future. Decentralized Private Lending is a decentralized non-custodial lending platform where users can deposit anonymously (generate income) and borrow confidential coins. Decentralized confidential synthetic asset protocols and other DeFi services are included in the Manta Network roadmap.
According to roadmap, the testnet of the protocol (DAP) is expected in Q3; a little later, but also in Q3, a testnet of the DAX exchange is planned. The key launch dates for the main network are Q4, and in Q4, the Manta Network may also participate in the Polkadot parachain auction.
The team decided to build their protocol on Polkadot because they believed the Polkadot blockchain would provide more options for DeFi users than what Ethereum currently provides. From an architectural point of view, Manta needs fast transactions, fast consensus, and interoperability - all of which Ethereum 1.0 does not offer. For example, the current Ethereum consensus, PoS, affects the block generation rate that is required to write transactions to the blockchain. This results in a slower and sub-optimal user experience.
The Manta Network is headquartered in Boston and has been under development since 2020. Found the following information about the project team:
- Professor Shumo Chu - CEO
- Victor Ji - CSO
- Zhenfei Zhang - CTO
- Kenny Li - COO
Judging by the Discord, there are more than 7 people in the team, the most active in interaction with the community - Kenny and Albiona.
Some pretty top funds have invested in the Manta Network, the full list of backers can be seen in the picture below.
The Manta Network partnerships so far are mainly with other projects in the Polkadot ecosystem:
The Manta Network token, $ MANTA, is the first deflationary utility token in which rewards, redemptions, and token burnings are generated from the actual use of a confidential network. The total emission of $ MANTA tokens will be 1,000,000,000. The main source of income is commissions for minting private tokens collected from users, reverse conversion of private tokens to native ones (0.1%), commissions for transfers of private tokens, and commissions for exchanging various private tokens (0.3% or more). These permanent sources of income will ensure the use of $MANTA tokens as a means of discount, redemption, governance and other use cases.
There is no complete tokenomics yet - there are only general details.
The team is thinking about launching a public testnet - for now, you can only look at what is already on GitHub (https://github.com/manta-network), play around (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 3SfXXRnxFqs) with Manta's own private blockchain implementation and test its private payment functions.
In the next article we will look at how you can participate in this project!
Conclusions
Due to technical difficulties, no one decentralized exchange now protects user privacy from start to finish, not only in the Polkadot ecosystem, but in the entire crypto world. The Manta Network was created to fill this gap. Since Manta covers both decentralized private payments and decentralized private asset transactions of the entire Polkadot ecosystem, it is indispensable for users who need privacy protection, especially institutional users. Therefore, we expect Manta to become the leader of the Polkadot ecosystem and the entire cryptocurrency market as the first decentralized privacy-protected platform.
To learn more about the Manta Network, join the project's social networks:
Telegram, Twitter, Medium and Discord (https://discord.gg/h6GcRDu4)