The native token of layer 2 scaling solution Metis, METIS, surged 50% in the last 24 hours following the announcement of a large grant fund aimed at expanding its ecosystem. The price spike comes amidst growing enthusiasm around the network’s ability to enable faster and cheaper transactions on Ethereum.
Keypoints
- Metis (METIS) token surged 50% in 24 hours following grant announcement, extending 30-day gains to over 240%
- Metis is a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, allowing faster and cheaper transactions
- MetisDAO Foundation unveiled a $360 million Ecosystem Development Fund to boost projects on Metis
- Some liquidity pools on Metis offer up to 200% in annualized fee rewards currently
- Ecosystem projects like Maia, Hermes, and Tethys saw significant increases in token prices and activity
Metis operates as a sidechain to Ethereum, offering users the ability to transfer assets and execute complex transactions with lower fees. The network has seen rapid growth in recent months as congestion on Ethereum leads more developers and users to explore layer 2 solutions.
The recent price surge was sparked by the revelation of the MetisDAO Foundation’s planned $360 million Ecosystem Development Fund (EDF). Slated to begin distributing funds in early 2024, the EDF aims to bootstrap liquidity, development, and adoption within the Metis ecosystem. Analysts speculate that users may benefit directly from these grants as rewards trickle down to applications built on Metis.
A 9-figure grant is coming to @MetisDAO for their decentralized sequencer launch in January.
Here’s an overview of the $METIS ecosystem, and the projects positioned to capitalize:@tethysfinance $TETHYS – Perp. DEX & Fork of $GMX tokenomics (You can currently yield >330% APR by…
— Louis Cooper ???? (@LouisCooper_) December 25, 2023
The grants appear to have galvanized investor interest in Metis and other ecosystem projects. In the past week, the total value locked in Metis applications surged from $100 million to over $500 million. Several tokens of tools built on Metis, like the Maia staking protocol and Hermes decentralized exchange, have doubled in price amidst the hype.
The growth has also translated into heightened user activity. Some liquidity pools on Hermes are offering yield rewards as high as 200% APR to attract liquidity to the protocol. Meanwhile, trading volumes on the derivatives exchange Tethys spiked 60% day-over-day.
While promising, the sustainability of growth remains an open question given the speculative frenzy around the Metis ecosystem. Nonetheless, as congestion mounts on Ethereum, the network remains uniquely positioned to capture activity thanks to its high throughput, robust tooling, and alignment of incentives between users and developers.
The recent surge shows the momentum gathering behind not just METIS, but layer 2 scaling solutions as a whole. With scalability limitations of Ethereum likely to persist until upgrades like sharding are implemented, investors are betting on layer 2 solutions like Metis to capture growing demand for DeFi, NFTs, and web3 applications in the mid-term.
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