Mantle is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and Layer 2 blockchain ecosystem that operates one of the largest on-chain treasuries in the crypto industry. It emerged in 2023 from the rebranding of BitDAO, itself launched in 2021 with significant backing from cryptocurrency exchange Bybit. The transition to the Mantle brand accompanied the launch of the Mantle Network, an Ethereum Layer 2 built on the OP Stack with a modular data availability layer powered by EigenDA. The mainnet opened in July 2023.
Mantle's treasury – governed by MNT token holders – held several billion dollars in assets at its peak, making it one of the best-capitalized DAOs in existence. A portion of those assets is directed toward strategic ecosystem investments through the Mantle EcoFund, the vehicle behind the 13 known portfolio positions. The fund targets projects that build on or integrate with the Mantle L2, seeking to grow transaction volume, TVL, and developer activity on the network. Investment theses span DeFi infrastructure, liquid staking, yield protocols, and consumer applications.
Notable investments
- Merchant Moe – a decentralized exchange native to Mantle Network, providing liquidity infrastructure for MNT-denominated trading pairs.
- Init Capital – a lending and borrowing protocol on Mantle, backed as a core DeFi primitive for the ecosystem.
- Lendle – another lending protocol on Mantle, early recipient of ecosystem grant and investment support.
- Butter Finance – a yield and structured products protocol building on Mantle.
- Pendle – a yield-trading protocol (pendle.finance); Mantle Treasury deployed capital into Pendle as a strategic partner and holds PT/YT positions to optimize treasury yield.
Public information about specific deal sizes for individual portfolio investments is limited. Mantle does not publish a traditional investment prospectus.
Team
Mantle operates with a governance structure rather than a traditional investment team. Key contributors have included Arjun Kalsy, who served as VP of Growth and ecosystem development following the BitDAO-to-Mantle transition. Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, has been a prominent public supporter; Bybit seeded BitDAO's treasury with substantial ETH contributions at launch. Day-to-day protocol and investment decisions are proposed on-chain and ratified by MNT token holders via the Mantle governance forum at forum.mantle.xyz. Public information about individual portfolio managers or fund partners within the EcoFund is limited.
Recent activity
Through 2024 and into 2025, Mantle accelerated its treasury diversification strategy. The DAO approved converting a portion of its large USDC and ETH reserves into yield-bearing positions – most notably deploying capital into Ethena's USDe and mETH (Mantle's own liquid staking token for ETH). The mETH Protocol launched in late 2023 and crossed $1 billion in TVL in 2024, becoming one of Mantle's most visible self-built products alongside the L2 network itself.
Mantle also announced a $200 million EcoFund allocation in 2023 earmarked for ecosystem builders, with grants and investments distributed to teams shipping on the L2. Geographic focus is global, with a concentration of developer teams in Asia – reflecting Bybit's origins and Mantle's strong community presence in East and Southeast Asia.
Mantle's position as both a blockchain network and an active treasury investor is unusual. If the network continues to attract DeFi liquidity and the treasury preserves capital, the EcoFund has the resources to become a meaningful early-stage backer in the L2 ecosystem. The main risk is governance – large DAOs can move slowly, and investment decisions are subject to community politics. The concentration of voting power among large MNT holders, including Bybit-affiliated wallets, remains a point of scrutiny for decentralization advocates.
