Manta Network, a layer-2 modular network designed for zero-knowledge applications, has introduced a $50 million ecosystem fund via its parent organization, Manta Foundation, to expedite project advancement on its blockchain.
The $50 million allocation is set to span one year commencing from June 15th. Successful recipients of grants or direct investments from Manta will become part of the EcoFund Program.
Zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs are cryptographic protocols that enable a prover to convince a verifier of a claim's truth without revealing any specific details about the claim. Within the cryptocurrency realm, ZK-proofs play a vital role in facilitating anonymous transactions while safeguarding the transaction specifics and user identities.
Out of the total $50 million ecosystem fund, $35 million will be directed towards promising projects on the Manta Network through direct investments. Additionally, $10 million will be allocated as ecosystem grants. Furthermore, $5 million will be utilized for hackathons, $4 million for general grants, and $2 million earmarked for artificial intelligence, memecoin, and ZK-specific projects.
Manta emphasizes its interest in projects that show a clear path to disrupting the market and achieving substantial growth, ensuring their sustainable success within the ecosystem.
Presently, the Manta ecosystem boasts a total value locked (TVL) of $54.7 million, marking a significant decrease from its peak TVL of $684 million in March. This decline can be partly attributed to the conclusion of the New Paradigm crypto yield program, resulting in mass withdrawals by users after the yields were obtained.
Earlier this year, Manta faced a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack following a successful token listing on various exchanges. The issue has since been resolved. At the current time, Manta holds a fully diluted market cap of $1.44 billion.
In March, Kenny Li, the co-founder and chief operating officer of Manta Pacific, shared with Cointelegraph that out of the 44 active Ethereum layer-2 blockchains today, only a select few are likely to endure beyond five years.
