In the latest episode of the Cryptonews Podcast, host Matt Zahab had a wide-ranging discussion with Kenny Li, Core Contributor to the privacy-preserving Polkadot–based protocol and layer-1 blockchain Manta Network.
In this exclusive interview, Li talked about:
- The future of modularity and how modular execution can help secure, lower the cost, and expedite the flow of transactions;
- The central role of user experience (UX) in a Layer 2 (L2) context and how it optimizes user engagement;
- Simplifying adoption for widespread impact: zk-enabled applications can continue enabling both DevEx and UX;
- Pioneering modularity in 2024: no blockchain can have all three tenets – decentralization, scalability, and security – perfectly balanced;
- Revolutionizing cross-chain interoperability, functionality, and decentralized applications (dapps).
Watch the Full Episode with Kenny Li
You can also continue reading to learn what Li told us.
Manta Network’s Success Exceeds Expectations
Manta Network has experienced tremendous growth in a short amount of time.
Manta Pacific officially launched its Mainnet Alpha on September 12, 2023.
“Alongside Celestia and Polygon Labs, we are excited to unveil the next chapters for the Manta Pacific journey, one that will result in Manta Pacific as a modular zkEVM using the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK),” according to the team’s detailed roadmap.
The team has been building Manta for the past three years, Li said, with two and a half of them primarily focused on the technology and the development.
However, by that point, the L2 was already up for about six months and has grown to become the largest modular L2, says Li.
Furthermore, it’s the third largest Ethereum L2, behind Optimism and Arbitrum, and it’s got over 180 ecosystem projects deployed already.
Moreover, Manta is the first L2 to leverage modular data availability network Celestia, which has helped save users $1.5 million in gas fees over just the past month.
Li noted that he’d lie if he said that the team expected such excellent results and that “it was a mastermind achievement.” However, it was simply a lot of hard work from a dedicated team trying to get the best outcome possible and making adjustments on the fly.
“And the best outcome exceeded all of our expectations,” Li said.
Re-thinking Yield-bearing
Li noted that he greatly respects the Ethereum L2 Blast, which introduced native yield for ETH and stablecoins.
Yield-bearing assets are a huge value proposition to users, especially for L2s, he argued.
In discussions with partners, including Binance, Manta came to the idea to pursue something similar to what Blast came up with.
The team needed to find a way to make it work for 180 ecosystem applications. “So that’s exactly what we did.”
So they launched their yield-bearing asset campaign, New Paradigm, with Phase 1 ending on January 16.
It was a success. “That just snowballed. It was pretty insane.”
Importance of Modularity
Building Manta has always been product-focused and user-oriented, said Li. This is what allows it to be an early adopter, adapt as it goes, and integrate services like Celestia.
They can do this due to this new buzzword: modularity. This term is now popular as ZK was a year ago, Li opined, and added:
“But modularity itself is more of a philosophy, an approach to how to build.”
Basically, there are two schools of thought when it comes to building in Web3, especially on the infrastructure level:
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