Manta Pacific, an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain, has seen its total value locked (TVL) soar to $1.75 billion after a token airdrop, accounting for 8% of the $21.42 billion TVL across Ethereum layer-2 networks. With this surge, Manta Pacific has overtaken Coinbase’s Base network, positioning itself as the third-largest in terms of TVL.
Manta Pacific’s TVL Growth
The TVL increase is largely attributed to the airdrop of 50,000,000 MANTA tokens, which boosted the token’s TVL share to $921 million. The rest of the TVL, amounting to $829 million, remains external to the network. Manta Pacific’s mainnet, which launched in September 2023, has shown significant growth despite being relatively new.
Arbitrum One continues to lead the layer-2 market with a 50% share of the total value locked, while OP Mainnet holds nearly a quarter. Coinbase’s Base network, only five months old, has a TVL of $711 million. Coinbase, facing legal challenges, is attempting to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that the coins listed on its platform are not securities, a difficult point to prove according to a former SEC official.
Controversy Surrounding the MANTA Airdrop
The MANTA token airdrop has sparked dissatisfaction among investors, as noted by crypto airdrop tracker and DeFi analyst Miles Deutscher. The discontent is fueled by the low returns post-airdrop, with some participants finding the qualifying NFTs more costly than the received MANTA tokens. Disappointed investors have taken to social media to express their grievances, with one investor highlighting the poor return on a $5,100 investment, which yielded only 13 MANTA tokens and a fund lockup until March 2024.