With August now behind us, it's the perfect time to recap what a month it has been! Let's wizz through all the highlights to ensure you haven't missed anything and can take advantage of all the latest initiatives within Mantle Ecosystem!

What's Occurring On-Chain?

• Total Locked Value: $1.2 billion
• Total Value Locked (dApps): $480 million

Season 1: Methamorphosis Spotlight Guides

If you're struggling to keep up with all the latest ways to earn $COOK through Season 1: Metamorphosis initiatives, don't sweat it. We've launched a brand-new content series to guide users through the different strategies they can use to position themselves to earn $COOK once it becomes available. Check them out and get involved with Season 1: Metamorphosis.

• Season 1: Methamorphosis Spotlight #1 — Bybit
• Season 1: Methamorphosis Spotlight #2 — Merchant Moe & Stargate
• Season 1: Methamorphosis Spotlight #3 — Binance Web3 Wallet
• Season 1: Methamorphosis Spotlight #4 — Pendle
• Season 1: Methamorphosis Spotlight #5 — EigenLayer

The Next Phase of Mantle AI Fest

As part of the ongoing Mantle AI Fest, we unveiled the next phase as users can scoop up a share of a 50,000 $MNT Prize Pool by completing protocol quests.

Event Period: Aug. 20, 2024 10AM UTC - Sept. 3, 2024 10AM UTC

Powered by Layer3 and Bybit, we've partnered with 4 innovative AI protocols to offer users engaging quests that help them level up their AI expertise!

Join Now

Ignition: FBTC Spotlight

Throughout the month, we've seen a lot of attention shift to the BTCFi space, and the team at Ignition has been busy announcing major collaborations and campaigns. Here's a roundup of some of the developments they shared in August.

• Ignition x Mantle x PumpBTC x Dodo Mission Season 1 is now live! $FBTC holders have embarked on a four-week-long quest campaign to win their share of 30K $MNT and 20M PumpBTC points. There's still time for you to get involved! Visit Ignition's tweet for a breakdown of the campaign.
• If that wasn't enough, they also unveiled "Sparkle," a campaign that invites users to complete early adopter quests, with $20,000 in $FBTC up for grabs. Although this campaign has come to an end, it's another reminder to follow Ignition on X/Twitter so you don't miss another campaign!
• To celebrate Babylon's introduction of self-custodial Bitcoin staking, the Ignition team collaborated with Bedrock, PumpBTC, and Solv Protocol. Users who stake their $FBTC on these platforms for their LSTs will start earning Babylon points!
• Finally, users can now stake $FBTC on SatLayer, a restaking platform built on Babylon, to start earning rewards in the form of SatLayer points and Sparks. Sparks will represent and track a user's contribution to the $FBTC ecosystem.

It's safe to say it's an exciting time to be a part of the $FBTC ecosystem.

Introducing mETH Protocol

Mantle LSP was the original brand name used when we first launched our liquid staking protocol. Following the success of the $mETH liquid staking token and the approval of MIP-30, the team has decided to rebrand Mantle LSP as mETH Protocol.

We've also launched an all-new mETH protocol X/Twitter (@mETHProtocol). Go ahead and drop us a follow to stay updated with all the mETH Protocol developments.

Mantle Summer Games

Mantle wrapped up the summer by hosting the Mantle Summer Games on Mantle Discord. Participants earned points to climb the leaderboard and claim their share of 2,000 $MNT and 12 Citizens of Mantle NFTs!

The 4-week event was filled with fun activities, including six Mantle-themed mini-games and puzzles, four poker tournaments, and four bonus content challenges. Additionally, the team hosted weekly poker tournaments, with 200 $MNT up for grabs each week.

Shoutout to everyone who took part — it was fantastic to see the Mantle community come together, enjoy some games, and earn prizes!

MNT & mETH Pendle Pools

$MNT and $mETH holders can now benefit from Pendle's new pools, offering fresh opportunities to earn rewards. Find out how you can start utilizing these pools right away.

• Accumulate MNT Power and more with Pendle MNT Pools: Zap your $MNT into Pendle MNT Pools to earn yield, $PENDLE incentives, and swap fees. By providing liquidity, users receive LP MNT and YT MNT, which qualify them to accrue MP on the Mantle Rewards Station. Additionally, users can swap into YT MNT to further leverage their MP exposure! Find a complete step-by-step guide here.

Pendle MNT Pool

• Accrue 25x Powder/Day per $mETH plus EigenLayer Points when you hold LP mETH and/or YT mETH: Similar to the MNT Pools, users can either Zap in liquidity into Pendle mETH Pools to earn Powder, $mETH yields, $PENDLE incentives, and swap fees. Alternatively, users can swap into YT mETH to leverage their Powder points exposure. For more information, visit our Season 1: Methamorphosis Spotlight #4 — Pendle guide.

Pendle mETH Pool

Mantle Core Budget Proposal

The Mantle Core Contributor team has posted a new proposal on the Mantle Forum, outlining the core budget for the upcoming budget cycle from July 2024 to June 2025.

The proposal discusses the following:

• Limits: The authorized limits for the second budget cycle (a 12-month period from July 2024 to June 2025) shall be set at:

  • Total USDx limit: 52M Units
  • Total MNT limit: 200M Units

• Exclusions: The following items shall not be part of the Budget scope and limits:

  • Financing Activities
  • Bridge Liquidity
  • Gas Costs
  • Other Non USDx/MNT Spending

• Budget Cycle: All annual budgets and limits shall be extended pro-rata for up to 3 months of the following budget cycle to allow for subsequent budgets to be proposed, discussed, and approved.

Join the discussion by reviewing the full proposal and participating in the conversation here.

$MNT delegates must assign their delegation before a proposal is posted for a vote. Learn more about $MNT delegation here: https://delegatevote.mantle.xyz/

Presenting Our Latest Ecosystem Additions

• Ember Sword x Mantle: Mantle has introduced 2 new showcase applications this month, starting with Ember Sword, a player-driven MMORPG aiming to set new standards in the genre. Leveraging blockchain technology, Ember Sword enables players to participate in a player-driven economy where their actions carry real-world value.
• Pichi Finance x Mantle: The second showcase app to join the ranks is Pichi Finance, which brings a novel concept to the DeFi space by enabling users to trade points through self-custodial wallets using the ERC-6551 standard.
• Alchemy x Mantle: To help enhance the capabilities of Mantle Ecosystem dApps, we've collaborated with a leading web3 developer platform, Alchemy. Through this integration, developers on Mantle now have access to Alchemy's APIs, tools, and infrastructure.

That’s not the end of the list. Throughout August we also welcomed many more exciting applications to Mantle Ecosystem including:

• Router Protocol
• xStation
• Yield Yak
• Hourglass
• DZap
• Yield Nest
• OMOSwap
• Thetanuts Finance

Go ahead and check them out and explore the Mantle Ecosystem. To stay updated with the latest integration updates and never miss anything, follow @MantleEcosystem on X/Twitter.

Looking Ahead

Now you’re up to speed with all the August alpha, it’s time to look ahead. If you think August was interesting, wait until you see what we have in store for September. Here are a few things to look out for:

• Mantle Rewards Station V2
• Journey to Methamorphosis Quests - Live now!
• More awesome ecosystem integrations including Polymer Labs, Bubbly Finance, and more!