What is Manta?

Manta Network is the multi-modular ecosystem for zero-knowledge (ZK) applications.
Manta offers two networks:

• Manta Pacific, the unique L2 ecosystem on Ethereum for EVM-native ZK applications, provides a scalable and inexpensive gas-fee environment for ZK applications to deploy simply using Solidity.
• Manta Atlantic, the fastest ZK L1 chain on Polkadot, brings programmable identities and credentials to web3 through zkSBTs.

Together, Manta Pacific and Manta Atlantic deliver an unparalleled experience for the next generation of web3 application development and adoption with the applied usage of zero-knowledge cryptography.
Manta Network was created by a team of experienced founders from prestigious institutions, including Harvard, MIT, and Algorand. Manta Network has received investments from many top web3 investment funds, including Binance Labs and Polychain Capital. It has grown through participation in the best web3 accelerators, including Alliance DAO and Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator. Manta Network is poised to bring the next generation of web3 users and usher in a new chapter of web3 zkApp applications.

What is Manta Pacific (Layer 2)?

Why do we need another L2?​

Today, there exists no home for EVM-native ZK applications. We believe that ZK applications are the next generation of decentralized apps because of the strong attention to user safety that it delivers in an otherwise normal dApp experience; thus, creating the perfect environment for ZK applications to exist is critical for the continuing growth and expansion of web3.
Current solutions do not fully address the needs of ZK applications to deploy and grow users in a scalable manner. General VM, EVM blockchains and zkEVM don’t provide the tooling to easily build and deploy ZK applications; if you manage to deploy one, your users will be burdened with high gas costs and slow performance. ZK networks that provide VM environments require developers to pick up new languages that lock those applications into specific ecosystems with a limited userbase. Notable features of Manta Pacific include:

• Manta Pacific offers programmable ZK as an EVM-native L2
• Manta’s Universal Circuits enable easy ZK application development using only Solidity
• Leveraging Celestia for data availability and the zkEVM for scalability, Manta Pacific provides high scalability and low transaction fees for ZK applications.

Manta Pacific takes all of the work that the Manta team has already built on ZK and applies it directly into a scalable EVM environment specifically designed for deploying ZK applications through the help of Celestia and the zkEVM.

How Does Manta Pacific Work?​

Manta Pacific is launched in the joint vision with Celestia and zkEVM. By leveraging the data-availability layer provided by Celestia, the first modular consensus and data network, harnessing the advanced technology developed by p0x labs, Manta Pacific builds out an accessible ZK development environment in a modular, scalable manner with multiple groundbreaking advantages:

Modularity for Lower Gas Fees and High Scalability​

Manta Pacific’s modular stack provides unparalleled scalability for future zkApps building on top of our ecosystem.
Manta Pacific uses Celestia as the data availability (DA) layer. Celestia uses the state of art data availability sampling - a 2D Reed-Solomon erasure coding and Namespaced Merkle Tree (NMTs) - to solve the data availability problem of L2s in a trust-minimized way. Manta Pacific, which uses Celestia as the DA layer, can dramatically reduce the data portion of transaction costs on the network for the end users.
Leveraging Celestia's modular data availability, Manta Pacific delivers a blazing-fast infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of monolithic L2s. Combine that with Manta's Universal Circuits, and you have the perfect environment for building and launching dApps.

Developer-Friendly, App Agnostic​

Manta Pacific unveils Universal Circuits 2.0, which elevates the developer experience specifically for deploying EVM-native ZK applications. Through Universal Circuits 2.0, Manta Pacific offers a ZK library for developers to easily call ZK-enabled contracts for their existing Solidity smart contracts and dApps.
Universal Circuits offer ZK-as-a-Service, allowing any Solidity developer to call Manta Pacific contracts through APIs to enable ZK features (such as compliant private identities for DeFi, identity verification for Web3 Social, and zk identity-preserving shuffling for on-chain gaming) with just a few lines of code. Manta Pacific’s core circuit designs for its Universal Circuits include zkContracts such as zkShuffle for on-chain gaming, and additional circuits based on Semaphore, by the Identity Scaling and Exploration (PSE) Labs from Ethereum Foundation.
A multi-modular approach provides developers the flexibility to leverage Manta’s private identity tools across chains and in web2 environments including mobile apps. Manta’s SDKs and proof keys offer developer-friendly solutions for integrating on-chain identity with just a few lines of code.

New ZK Use Cases and Real Users​

Manta Pacific offers Universal Circuits, a ZK library for developers to easily call ZK-enabled contracts for their existing Solidity smart contracts and dApps. Manta Pacific’s core circuit designs for its Universal Circuits include zkContracts such as zkShuffle for on-chain gaming.
”Individually, Manta’s ZK, Celestia’s modular DA, and the zkEVM offer compelling technologies with proven adoption. By combining these three together, we are creating the best-in-class ecosystem for developers and users when it comes to ZK use cases—something that is very much needed in the space.” —Victor Ji, Founder of Manta

Non-Invasive Compliance​

Manta Network’s zkSBTs allow users to verify in a trustless, decentralized manner without exposing any details. zkSBTs such as the zkBAB and zkGalxe Passport deliver a seamless on-chain KYC verification without any need to scan passports or enter sensitive personal information.

A Growing Ecosystem​

From DeFi to gaming to social, apps deploying on Manta are designed to bring the best experience and value to real users. The Manta Ecosystem Grants Program is designed to explore and grow new and valuable use cases to solve pain points faced by real users.
Manta Pacific is the first EVM-equivalent ZK-application platform that achieves scalability and security through Celestia DA and Polygon zkEVM. We take all of the work that the Manta team has already built on ZK and apply it directly into a scalable EVM environment specifically designed for deploying ZK applications.
Manta Network will continue to achieve growth, and with the introduction of Manta Pacific, will expand that growth into an even larger ecosystem for both web3 and web2. If you are building applications and are interested in learning more about how to build within the Manta Network ecosystem, please reach out. We welcome you to join us on the exciting adventure ahead!

What is Manta Atlantic (Layer1)?

Manta Atlantic is the fastest and most decentralized ZK Layer1 supporting modular on-chain compliance identities. Its suite of core products and technologies, including zkNFTs, staking and ecosystem projects, offers user-friendly access to powerful ZK-enabled use cases.
Compared with those zk identity layers 1 to build a zk smart contract language, Manta Atlantic is focusing more on the ZK compliance credential layer with real adoption and interoperability to make other projects have interoperable identities without dealing with any cryptography work.
The Manta’s zk circuit and infrastructure has been developed by two years, it has a public account based address system and an UTXO based private address system, we call it zkAddress. The zkAddress shielded information including SBT minting, onchain credentials, offchain identities. It is the first private address system that is reusable, independent and auditable. Also the first one supports multiple NFTs, which has its own seed phase and can sync on different devices. With Prove Key, users are able to share the certain credential of the zkAddress without leaking zk identity.

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