How will privacy-focused Layer2 project Manta Pacific surpass zk Rollups competition as a newcomer?

Privacy Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) Project
Manta Network
In recent days, the team has been active and there has been significant growth in on-chain data. What is Manta Pacific, the Layer2 network launched by the team this year? Why is there a large-scale incentive plan at this time? Why migrate to Polygon CDK? This article will explain in detail.
(This article is not investment advice)

Table of Contents
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New Developments in Manta Pacific
Frequent Team Activities
Growth in On-Chain Data
Introduction to Manta Ecosystem
Starting with Polkadot Ecosystem: Manta Atlantic
ZK Rollups Follower: Manta Pacific
Manta Pacific Roadmap
Phase 1: Mainnet Launch (Completed)
Phase 2: Integration of External DA (Completed)
Phase 3: Migration to Polygon CDK
Phase 4: Universal Circuits 2.0
Manta Aims to Create Applications That Don’t Exist Yet
New Developments in Manta Pacific
In July of this year, the Manta team announced the launch of their Layer2 network, and in September, they began internal testing of the Manta Pacific mainnet. In November, they integrated LayerZero cross-chain services, and this month, they announced the integration of Celestia as the data availability layer (DA) of the network. Next, they will prepare to migrate from the OP ecosystem to the Polygon CDK ecosystem.

In terms of market presence, the team has recently started many marketing activities. In addition to recent incentive programs to promote Manta Pacific’s native ETH and USDC earnings (similar to Blast mode), there have also been multiple rounds of lottery events to encourage user participation in their Layer2 ecosystem.
Further reading:
Explaining the Earnings Model of Blur L2 Network Blast: On-Chain Native Interest Rates, Sustainable NFT Contracts, etc.
In July of this year, the team announced that they had raised $25 million in Series A funding, which is a relatively large amount of cryptocurrency financing case for 2023.
Further reading:
Research Report: Infrastructure Attracts Attention, Cryptocurrency Financing Summary for 2023
Recently, Manta Pacific has experienced breakthrough growth in on-chain data. According to Etherscan, their cross-chain bridge fuel consumption has been among the top ten Ethereum protocols.

Ethereum Gas Fee Consumption Protocol Rankings
(Source)
On the other hand, Manta Pacific’s on-chain TVL has increased from $30 million to about $150 million in the past ten days, a five-fold increase, currently ranking 11th among all L2 networks.

Manta Pacific On-Chain TVL Changes
(Source)
To understand the recent changes in on-chain data in Manta Pacific, it is necessary to clarify the roles within its ecosystem and then look at the team’s positioning of itself in order to better determine the fundamental reasons for the changes in on-chain data.
The Manta ecosystem currently has two main products:
Manta Atlantic based on the Polkadot ecosystem
Manta Pacific based on the OP Stack ecosystem

Manta Network Ecosystem Architecture
(Source)
Manta Atlantic
Manta Atlantic uses zero-knowledge proof technology zkSNARKs to provide privacy protection for transfers and any on-chain transaction activities at the Layer1 level. It is built on the Polkadot ecosystem and has participated in crowdfunding.
Manta Atlantic provides a privacy protection underlying network. Unlike the application-level approach of Tornado, Manta Atlantic incorporates zero-knowledge proof functionality into the network consensus layer, providing developers with easy-to-use privacy transaction capabilities. Developers do not need to handle any cryptographic work, which accelerates the development of privacy applications on the network.
For example, Manta Atlantic provides the zkAddress standard, which offers developers a privacy DID standard and library that can be easily used in their services or protocols.
Manta Pacific
Considering the stagnation of the Polkadot ecosystem’s development and the gradual improvement of Layer2 development tools, the Manta team announced in July of this year that they would build a Layer2 network based on the OP Stack called Manta Pacific, and the original parallel chain network of the Polkadot ecosystem was renamed Manta Atlantic.
Manta Pacific encapsulates ZK technology and provides developers with an alternative zero-knowledge proof solution. In the current stage, Manta Pacific modularizes the zero-knowledge proof technology module of Manta Atlantic and applies the ready-made OP Stack and Celestia to quickly build a competitive network, bringing existing zero-knowledge proof privacy encryption technology to Ethereum developers for use on the Manta Pacific network. This allows developers to easily develop related applications based on zero-knowledge proofs using Solidity, without waiting for the development progress of zkEVM.
For developers, this is an alternative zero-knowledge proof solution different from ZK Stack or Starknet Stack.
Manta Pacific has a roadmap with four phases, aiming to build a privacy network based on zero-knowledge proofs and create new potential application scenarios for smart contracts:

Manta Pacific Roadmap
(Source)
By using OP Stack to establish an Ethereum-compatible network, Manta Pacific provides developers with a Solidity development environment and Universal Circuits modules (libraries and APIs for calling ZK applications), allowing developers without a background in zero-knowledge proof technology to easily test and deploy DAPPs with zero-knowledge proof capabilities. The goal is to build an ecosystem based on Universal Circuits such as Manta zkSBT and zkShuffle.
Manta Pacific will have a clear development advantage over Starkware and Aztec in this regard. The latter has redesigned domain-specific languages (DSL) such as Cairo and Noir for zero-knowledge proof applications, which is not conducive to attracting developers. Manta Pacific uses the OP Stack Bedrock library to achieve EVM equivalence, allowing the use of Solidity to develop zero-knowledge proof applications.
Manta Pacific will use Celestia’s modular data availability layer for more efficient network performance.
Further reading:
Celestia Mainnet Launch: Opportunities and Challenges of Modular Blockchain
The goal of the third phase is to transition the Manta Pacific architecture from OP Stack to Polygon CDK. Manta Pacific will be able to utilize the proven and secure zero-knowledge proof technology of CDK to enhance network finality speed and security. It can also use its existing ZK cross-chain bridges.
By using the Polygon CDK modular architecture, Manta Pacific can retain its core advantage of Universal Circuits modules, while strengthening other aspects of the network’s foundation.
Manta Pacific will further optimize Universal Circuits to reduce the fuel cost required for functions and support more use cases. It will also support account abstraction technology to provide a better user experience for the network.
Specifically, the plan is to integrate ZK proofs to significantly reduce the cost of generating zero-knowledge proofs and uploading them to the mainnet, while increasing transaction processing throughput. On the other hand, it will integrate more native smart contract use cases to provide a more powerful and complete code library.
Although Manta may seem like just another project launching its own Layer2 network to seize the recent hot spot, its strategy is clear:
Manta Pacific aims to unlock the next generation of DAPPs, especially services supported by zero-knowledge proofs, rather than creating a faster Ethereum.
Manta Pacific retains its signature Universal Circuits modules and utilizes modular facilities including OP Stack, Polygon CDK, and Celestia to build a competitive and secure network. It seizes the market before the development of zkEVM is complete, providing an alternative privacy encryption development tool. It has a certain degree of advantage at this moment.
However, even though Manta Pacific’s virtual machine is EVM compatible, there are still significant challenges to overcome in attracting existing Web3 ecosystem users and developers to migrate to its network. Whether its recent ecosystem incentives and potential airdrop rewards can continue to attract users remains to be seen in the market.
(This article is not investment advice)

Celestia
Manta
Manta Pacific
Polygon CDK
ZK-Rollup
ZKP

Further reading:
Layer2 Scaling Solution Scroll Raises $50 Million in Financing! Testnet is Live, Valuation Reaches $1.8 Billion
BNB Chain Launches zkBNB Testnet, Improves Scalability, Mainnet Expected to Launch by the End of the Year