Manta Network deep dive: ZK privacy L1, Plonkup, MantaPay and tokenomics
Thread1,014 words
Research thread on Manta: why Zcash and Monero's mono-asset design is limiting, Manta's Polkadot parachain architecture, Plonkup proof system, MantaPay, zkNFTs, smart contracts, wallet, tokenomics, governance and team.
Key claims
Manta runs DPoS among collators secured by the Polkadot relay chain
Plonkup has a universal, updateable trusted setup and supports recursion
Manta's trusted setup was the largest ever conducted
ZK SEASON is upon us 🥷
but while a lot of the attention has been focused on #zkEVM rollups, there is a REVOLUTIONARY project building a programmable & interoperable L1 that natively supports #zk-enabled #privacy at scale 🚀
ALPHA-packed research 🧵 on @MantaNetwork (0/69) 🔱
1/
🖼 Background (2-10)
🏗 Network Architecture (11-19)
🔒 ZK Proof System (20-28)
🥷 MantaPay (29-39)
🎨 zkNFTs & zkSBTs (40-41)
📜 Smart Contracts (42-50)
🔱 Manta Wallet (51-52)
🪙 Tokenomics (53-60)
⚖️ Governance (61-62)
💼 Team & Funding (63-67)
🔍 Conclusion (68-69)
2/ 🖼 Background
before we dive into the details of @MantaNetwork's technology, it's important to understand the problem that #Manta solves
by using cutting-edge zero knowledge tech, @MantaNetwork addresses the lack of privacy that is inherent to public blockchain networks
3/ with the promise of decentralization & transparency, privacy becomes an issue
while public blockchains are pseudonymous, they are not truly anonymous systems
but for many use cases, privacy is a necessity, especially in the context of sensitive data
x.com/expctchaos/status/1484546240108969995
4/ while in the context of financial applications privacy is often primarily viewed as a potential regulatory risk, for some use cases privacy features can also be important from a regulatory perspective 👇
x.com/expctchaos/status/1484546243527208962
5/ with the rise of #Bitcoin it is hence not surprising that alternative currency systems with improved privacy features were quick to emerge
6/ a pioneer in enabling truly private p2p transactions is #Monero that leverages a technology called ring signatures to upgrade the notion of pseudonymity to anonymity 👇
x.com/expctchaos/status/1607639930762850305
7/ another pioneer in the private payment space is @zcash, which was the first cryptocurrency to use a #zkSNARKs to enable true #privacy for users 👇
x.com/expctchaos/status/1611398695395917824
8/ While these cryptocurrencies and the technologies they use provide various degrees of #privacy to end users, there are two core issues of these protocols that still persist
9/
⚠️ both are mono-asset private cryptocurrencies and can only privatize a single type of token ( $ZEC & $XMR )
⚠️ no support for smart contracts / DeFi
10/ this sets the stage for @MantaNetwork, an asset-agnostic & programmable L1, supporting zk-powered privacy by default
using zk tech out there $MANTA addresses both the privacy issues that plague public networks, as well as well as the limitations of mono-asset privacy systems
11/ 🏗 Network Architecture
but let's dive into $MANTA 🔱
@MantaNetwork is a layer 1 blockchain built on @Polkadot's substrate framework, that runs a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) consensus among its collator set which proposes blocks for validation on the $DOT relay chain
12/ while I will not dive into the details of #Polkadot's network architecture and consensus mechanism here, it is important to have a basic understanding of the overall system
13/ #Polkadot is an interoperable network of application-specific parachains (L1s) that share security with the common layer 0 (the Polkadot relay chain) and are interoperable thanks to cross-chain messaging via XCMP
14/ the notion of having separated, application-specific execution layers on top of a common base layer that provides high security guarantees is similar to the rollup & settlement layer relationship #Ethereum has with its #L2s
15/ the network's collators are similar to what sequencers are in the rollup case
collators maintain #parachains by collecting transactions from users and producing state transition proofs for the relay chain validators, that subsequently finalize the blocks on the relay chain
16/ Polkadot’s relay chain features a hybrid consensus mechanism that features two distinct processes, BABE and GRANDPA. While BABE is the block production mechanism, Polkadot uses GRANDPA as a finality gadget, which provides deterministic finality for any given relay chain block
17/ in other words, when a block/transaction is marked as final, it can't be reverted except via on-chain governance. @MantaNetwork adopts this notion of deterministic finality in its dPoS mechanism among collators
18/ @MantaNetwork also has a sister-chain on @Kusama, in the form of @CalamariNetwork, which has already been launched on mainnet a while ago & where MantaPay (see tweets 29-39) is already live
19/ @CalamariNetwork is its own L1 with a distinct set of collators, its own collator consensus and token ( $KMA ) and is plugged into the @kusamanetwork relay chain for shared security
20/ 🔒 ZK Proof System
now that we understand what @MantaNetwork is trying to achieve and know how the chain is maintained & secured, it's time have a look at how $MANTA enables privacy in more depth
21/ for a primer on zero knowledge technology, check out the thread linked below 👇
x.com/expctchaos/status/1611398681890283521
22/ as mentioned in the background section, @MantaNetwork uses zero knowledge proofs to enable privacy for users
more specifically, $MANTA relies on a PLONK-based proof system called plonkup
23/ plonkup is based on #PLONK, a proof system introduced in 2019. Since its release, various ameliorations and extensions have been proposed, including plonkup or plonky2 (Polygon zkEVM)
24/ #PLONK stands for "Permutations over Lagrange-bases for Oecumenical Noninteractive arguments of Knowledge" and is a form of general-purpose zero-knowledge proof scheme
25/ one of the improvements that #PLONK introduces, is that while it still requires a trusted setup procedure similar to that needed for the #SNARKs in @Zcash's old (pre-Halo) proof system...
26/ ...it is a "universal & updateable" trusted setup that allows for more flexibility as it can be securely reused for new applications (e.g. for both #Manta and #Calamari)
27/ plonkup also introduces support for recursion, in which a proof can verify itself, another proof and even multiple proofs, thereby reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored on the blockchain and enabling novel applications
28/ the trusted setup ceremony of @MantaNetwork's zk proof system was the largest one ever conducted
for more info, check here 👇
x.com/MantaNetwork/status/1612858756089663490
29/ 🥷 MantaPay
#MantaPay is a UTXO-based (Unspent Transaction Output model) payment protocol that uses #zkSNARK to shield the linkage between coin transfers and preserve user #privacy
30/ at the core of #MantaPay stand @MantaNetwork's zkAssets
@MantaNetwork supports fungible tokens such as ERC-20s but also non-fungible tokens such as ERC721 and ERC1155 or soulbound tokens (see tweets 40-41) and enables privacy transactions between all $DOT parachain assets
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What came next · since 21 Apr 2023
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This breakdown analyzes the project without making a call on the token, so price moves since publication are shown as market context.
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Since then
Zero has written 22 more pieces on Manta Network and $MANTA since this one.
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