Manifold is building its own liquid staking platform, secures 25,000 ETH deal with Cream Finance

Manifold Finance is set to launch its liquid staking derivative in a few months — one that will be native to multiple blockchains and offer an enhanced yield.

Manifold is a platform that focuses on providing extra yield opportunities by taking advantage of maximal extractable value, known as MEV — a type of on-chain strategy. It typically works with exchanges to allow their users to earn extra profits from this MEV extraction.

The liquid staking derivative, called mevETH, will also be designed to offer extra yield through MEV extraction. Those who stake their ether in exchange for the token — freeing up their locked value — will earn typical staking rewards, as well as the extra yield from MEV strategies. 

Manifold has a few MEV strategies in mind to generate yield, but it may introduce new ones over time. To start with, it will be arbitraging the peg between ether and mevETH. Plus, as it will run its own validator, it will also be able to create custom blocks and ensure they get included on-chain.

MevETH will be an omnichain token

MevETH will be an omnichain token built using the cross-chain LayerZero protocol. That means it will be native to multiple chains compatible with Ethereum — including Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum — making it easier to send the token from one to another. This avoids the standard process of wrapping tokens, and makes life easier for users and developers, as they only have to deal with one token (instead of the token and a wrapped version of it).

“Our goal is to have this be the most widely composable liquid staking token,” said Manifold’s head of business development and communications, who goes only by his first name, James.

Manifold’s liquid staking token will be available through its liquid staking protocol. To kickstart the protocol, Manifold has acquired Cream Finance’s validator set. This means those who have staked their ether with Cream Finance will now be staking to Manifold’s liquid staking protocol. This will bring around 25,000 ether ($44.5 million) under its control when the protocol launches.

Manifold did not disclose the deal’s terms but said it plans to provide incentives to Cream Finance stakers. Manifold started working on the protocol in February and hasn’t yet gone through any audits.

Down the line, Manifold aims to add restaking abilities to the mevETH token. This will let stakers use their stake to secure multiple chains or protocols, taking on additional risk in exchange for more rewards. This will be in a subsequent version of the protocol.

Manifold said its goal is for the protocol to be looking after 100,000 ether ($178 million) by the end of the year — from both retail users and counterparties, like DAOs and DeFi protocols.

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