On December 24, 2025, a new report from Messari positioned Mantle as a significant player in the landscape of onchain finance. The analysis examined Mantle’s network architecture, ecosystem growth, and recent achievements, emphasizing its development into a vital distribution layer for digital financial services.
The report highlights Mantle’s expanding integration with Bybit, a leading cryptocurrency exchange. This relationship has evolved from a basic token listing to a comprehensive platform-level integration, where the MNT token serves multiple functions including trading, fee payments, and benefits for institutional clients. Following a joint roadmap announced in August 2025, Bybit introduced various enhancements, such as expanding MNT-quoted trading pairs and offering discounted fees for MNT transactions. As of October 8, 2025, MNT’s market capitalization had reached approximately $8.7 billion, indicating heightened liquidity and user engagement across Bybit’s extensive distribution channels.
Strengthening the Capital Base
The Messari report details that Mantle’s capital structure is notably underpinned by the mETH Protocol, which is recognized as a significant source of onchain liquidity. By late 2025, mETH held $791.7 million in Ethereum (ETH), and cmETH maintained an additional $277 million, collectively representing around $1.07 billion in assets. The total value locked (TVL) in Mantle’s decentralized finance (DeFi) applications reached $242.3 million as of September 30, 2025, showcasing sustained activity and growth within the network.
In addition to these achievements, the report underscores Mantle’s commitment to building institutional-grade infrastructure. Its Tokenization-as-a-Service (TaaS) platform facilitates compliant issuance of real-world assets (RWAs), further enhancing the protocol’s appeal for institutional participants. Noteworthy issuances, such as Ondo Finance’s USDY, have contributed approximately $29 million in tokenized assets on Mantle. The ecosystem has also seen initiatives like global RWA hackathons and scholarship programs designed to foster innovation and participation.
Focus on Institutional Adoption
Emily Bao, Key Advisor at Mantle, emphasized that institutions seek cohesive ecosystems rather than isolated execution layers. She stated, “Institutions don’t adopt isolated execution layers, but they adopt ecosystems that coordinate capital, liquidity, and distribution.” This insight reflects Mantle’s strategy to bridge existing gaps and enhance the usability of onchain finance for institutional clients, focusing on creating a comprehensive infrastructure rather than merely optimizing for transaction throughput.
Evan Zakhary, a Protocol Research Analyst at Messari, affirmed this perspective, noting that Mantle’s evolution signifies a broader trend among Layer 2 solutions. He remarked, “Mantle’s development reflects a broader shift among Layer 2s toward coordinating capital, applications, and distribution rather than optimizing execution in isolation.” This growing capital stack and exchange-led distribution model positions Mantle as a key network for fostering institutional engagement in onchain finance.
As the Messari report indicates, Mantle is evolving beyond a traditional Layer 2 solution. The network’s deepening integration with exchanges and its focus on institutional adoption are defining characteristics of its role as a critical distribution layer for onchain finance.
In summary, Mantle is establishing itself as a premier distribution layer and gateway for traditional finance (TradFi) to connect with onchain liquidity and access real-world assets. With over $4 billion in community-owned assets, Mantle combines credibility, liquidity, and scalability, paving the way for large-scale adoption of its ecosystem. The foundation of this ecosystem is built around the MNT token and is supported by core projects like mETH, fBTC, and MI4, along with strategic partnerships with notable issuers and protocols.
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