Before we get started, this is not a recommendation or endorsement to buy any token(s) mentioned.
This week, we cover how to farm Ethena’s newly launched token ENA by staking MNT on the Mantle Rewards Station.
Last summer, we covered a guide to early DeFi protocols building on the Ethereum L2 Mantle. Since then, Mantle has established itself as the 12th largest network by TVL, 4th among Ethereum L2s with $353M as of this post.
Mantle prides itself on being an L2 DeFi haven incubating new protocols such as the money market INIT Capital with $60M in liquidity as well as DeFi juggernauts like Pendle, which currently hosts $196M TVL on Mantle.
While most L2s claim to be DeFi friendly, there’s a real edge to the community Mantle has cultivated thanks to key contributors like Mantle Chief Alchemist, Jordi Alexander.
During an episode of The Edge Podcast, Jordi revealed there’s a deeply held belief in building the best native yields in DeFi and attracting yields such as Ethena’s sUSDe (37% APY). One of the best examples of this is when Mantle used its massive treasury of ETH and staked over 600k ETH to provide 2x staking yield to 600k mETH holders (7.2% APY).
In other words, they staked their own ETH and then gave away all of the yield to ETH stakers on Mantle (aka mETH holders).
Recently on March 25th, Mantle announced the launch of the Mantle Rewards Station, a hub for distributing rewards from your favorite Mantle dApps. The Mantle Rewards Station works likes this:
- Starting on March 25th, MNT holders could lock their MNT.
- Rewards emissions officially began on March 27, 2024 at 10AM UTC.
- For the first rewards campaign, users can lock MNT for a share of 2.5 billion Ethena Shards.
- Anyone can connect their wallet and lock any MNT amount.
- Anyone may unlock their MNT or claim their rewards at any time.
- The campaign’s rewards (Ethena Shards) are fully backed by the Mantle Treasury, similar to how the mETH Double-Dose Drive worked. Mantle’s Treasury earned ~2.5 billion Ethena Shards and will now distribute them to participants via Mantle Rewards Station in the form of a receipt token called mShard.
- Currently, MNT stakers can claim their mShards as they earn them. Once claimed from the Mantle Rewards Station, users can go to Merchant Moe where there is an option to swap mShards to other major tokens, such as MNT, USDT, and more.
- Alternatively, it’s expected that soon mShard holders will be able to redeem Ethena’s native token ENA, but as of this post, we don’t know what swap ratio it will be based on, meaning how many mShards = 1 ENA. Follow Mantle on Twitter for updates!
Today, I’ll show how I can passively farm mShards to later swap for ENA rewards for 17 more days until the campaign ends on April 26th, 2024. If you’re reading this in the future, Mantle Rewards Station will be hosting lots of other campaigns for Mantle dApps so stay tuned and check out their web app!
How to Farm Ethena mShards for ENA on Mantle Rewards Station
Before we get started, please be aware of these risks.
- Smart contract risk in Mantle Rewards Station
- Front-end spoof attack on any app frontend
- An economic design exploit
- Colluding signers on any multisig
- An unexpected ratio of mShards:ENA, meaning if more mShards are required to swap for ENA, stakers could miscalculate…
DeFi Dad is one of the earliest power users of DeFi, having worked with early Ethereum startups going back to 2018, including Zapper.
