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Launched in Q4 2021, Metis is an Ethereum Layer 2 optimistic rollup platform forked from Optimism. The Metis Andromeda network is open to developers for launching dApps, tokens, and other projects on an EVM-compatible platform. The project integrates the Decentralized Autonomous Company – DAC framework model in its Layer-2 infrastructure, allowing developers or community leaders to build their apps and communities easily by using the preset tools provided.
The platform is designed to be almost identical to Ethereum, but with a more scalable solution, cheaper gas fees, and inexpensive on-chain storage. All transaction data is recorded on-chain, so anyone monitoring the contract can know the correct state of the rollup chain.
Even though anyone can propose blocks to the system, there is a privileged sequencer that has priority for submitting transaction batches and ordering transactions. However, users can force any transaction because the state of the system is based on transactions submitted on-chain by interacting with smart contracts.
Metis Andromeda can also be encountered on the web referred to as MetisDAO, MetisDAC, or just Metis.
Metis Andromeda explained the structure of the smart contracts in the Metis protocol by separating them into a few key components. For Layer 1, the first group of contracts is the Messaging contracts which facilitate passing messages from L1 to L2. The second group is called Rollup, these contracts on L1 hold the ordering of L2 transactions and commitments.
The Layer 2 contracts consist of Messaging contracts that pass messages from L2 to L1, followed by a group of contracts referred to as Predeploys. This set of “essential contracts” deployed and available in the genesis state of the system is similar to Ethereum’s precompiles, and since they are written in Solidity, they can be found at addresses prefixed with 0x42.
There is a set of contracts implementing the Metis Virtual Machine (MVM) including an MVM Verifier contract coordinating the entire fraud-proof verification process. If successful, it prunes any state batches from the State Commitment Chain published after the fraudulent state root. Essentially, The Metis Andromeda network assumes all transactions are valid until proven otherwise
The Metis gateway is similar to other applications bridging L1 and L2, the protocol is made up of two primary contracts, one on Layer 1 and one on Layer 2. To send assets from L1 to L2 users need to allocate some tokens from their wallet, Metis Andromeda to accept them into the L1 smart-contract, the funds get locked inside it, following which the contract sends a message to the L2 smart-contract, which once received triggers the L2 contract to mint the amount of funds requested and deliver them to the user through the Metis Andromeda app.
To withdraw, a user needs to send a “withdrawal” transaction to the L2 contract, which burns the tokens to be withdrawn, and sends a message to the L1 contract to unlock the same amount of funds on behalf of the user. After “a couple of days” of waiting for fraud-proof the user needs to send a second, final “withdrawal” transaction to the L2 contract and get their funds back.
The company aims to keep the Metis Andromeda fees low while the transaction speed is high by handling them differently than on Ethereum. Fees for L2 transactions are denominated in METIS and calculated by considering variables such as the rollup transaction size, the gas used, the execution price, and others.
For transactions from L1 to L2 users need to pay for the standard Ethereum gas costs associated with the transaction. Fees for L2 to L1 transactions are more expensive than in the other direction as both an L2 and L1 transaction needs to be made. The L2 transaction initiates the transaction while the L1 one finalizes it.
The METIS token plays a significant role in the governance of the project and its total supply is capped at 10M coins. The minting mechanism of the token consists of minting new Metis Tokens when valuable transactions leveraging Metis Protocol occur. The newly minted tokens are distributed among all the collaborators proportionally. Token holders can participate in DAC operations, governance of the protocol, and use of data by the network.
The MetisDAO token, METIS is also used for utility, as all transactions occurring on the Metis Andromeda network are paid in it. During the ICO of the token in May 2021, the company managed to sell coins worth $3M, at a price of $5 each. 30% of all taxes collected on the platform get redistributed back to developers of dApps in METIS tokens.
Every transaction on L2 needs to pay a fee in METIS tokens and so do some services in the DAC. With the growth of the ecosystem, the company plans to implement more revenue models. The coin is also used for staking, both for rewards and as the commitment of validators.
By connecting their wallet to the platform users can create their own DACs, and depending on the amount of METIS tokens they have staked, multiple mining power decides the shares they get from the mining rewards.
By staking METIS tokens and keeping a node running, users can become validators and get reimbursed for validating random transactions to keep the network secure. Thus, acting as paid auditors, and being referred to as “rangers”.
The Metis Andromeda team consists of co-founders Elena Sinelnikova, Kevin Liu, and Yuan Su. On staff is also Natalia Ameline – the mother of Vitalik Butterin, Ethereum’s co-founder. Some of the more prominent investors in the project include Digital Finance Group and Master Ventures.
So far, there have been no major incidents affecting the Metis Andromeda network reported. The company has a $1M bug bounty program. The company claims to have been audited at least three times, however as of the time of writing of this article, only one of the Metis Andromeda audits is available online – the Solidified report from April 2021.
The Metis Andromeda ecosystem consists of DeFi projects such as a collateralized stablecoin protocol – Standard Protocol, the options trading protocol – Asteria, and many others. There is a whole group of technical infrastructure-focused companies partnering with the Metis network. Some of them are: SupraOracles – providing data feeds to the network’s DeFi applications while allowing the community to choose data options. Parsiq is connecting blockchain activity to real-world applications. Bluehelix Chain is working on building a bridge from L2 to L1 for Metis.
The company has currently established a partnership with two protocols focused on Future of Work/DAO projects and plans to create more connections in the near future. There are two launchpads working in cooperation with the project – PAID Network’s Ignition launchpad (where Metis’ IDO was conducted), and InnMind. Metis Andromeda also has partnerships with companies from the Crypto Wallets niche as well as the NFT and the Social Media sectors.
Starting from the beginning of 2022, the project has advanced to the “Discover Age” as called by the company itself. This stage of the development of the platform will focus on enrolling more projects and communities onboard. As well as giving verifiers the ability to conduct real-time verifications, shortening the finalizations window for transactions from L2 to L1 to just “a few hours” and later on not more than “a few minutes”.
For Q2 2022, the team has planned to open the Metis Sequencer Pool for community participation, to which all verifiers will be added automatically. By utilizing a challenge and voting mechanism for choosing the next sequencer, the company aims to ensure efficient rotation of Sequencer positions. Releasing the cloud deployment code for main and peer nodes is planned for Q3 2022, and will allow everyone to run a Metis node with high security and efficiency.
https://andromeda-explorer.metis.io/
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Last updated: Aug 22, 2023
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