2024 was an eventful year for Metis with groundbreaking technological innovations, important community events, ecosystem development initiatives, growth of GameFi programs, and several partnerships with Web3 industry leaders.
Let’s recap the key moments from 2024 that shaped Metis into one of the leading Layer-2 ecosystems.
Launch of Decentralized Sequencer Nodes
On March 14, 2024, the Metis decentralized sequencer went live to become the first Ethereum Layer-2 protocol to decentralize its sequencer. Metis’ decentralized sequencer distributes the transaction ordering across multiple nodes, thereby enhancing security and network resilience to take Metis closer to true decentralization.
Metis added multiple sequencer nodes and sequencer rotation in Phase 1 for network liveness and censorship resistance. In April 2024, a hard fork on block 16500000 activated Phase 2 of the decentralized sequencer update. It facilitated multiple transactions within a block, a transaction pool for pending transactions, and introduced sequencer mining.
Sequencer mining benefits Metis by facilitating network decentralization and increasing network reliability while rewarding node operators. Additionally, Metis users can participate in sequencer mining with Liquid Staking Token (LST) providers Artemis and ENKI.
These LST protocols provide them with LST tokens to deploy within the Metis DeFi ecosystem. The LST tokens unlock the value of users’ locked positions while securing the Metis network and accruing rewards with 20% APR.
Metis also integrated four independent decentralized sequencer nodes after the voting process concluded on June 28, 2024. These third-party sequencer node operators drove innovation, network optimization, operational efficiency, improved security, and better performance for the decentralized sequencer nodes.
The first providers for the independent sequencer node operators are:
- Hashkey Cloud: The leading web3 infrastructure provider became the first external decentralized sequencer client on Metis in September 2024.
- SNZ: The crypto-native incubator and investment company was the second external decentralized sequencer client to go live on Metis on September 26, 2024.
- B-Harvest: The leading DeFi protocol was the third external decentralized sequencer client to launch on Metis on October 4, 2024
- OKX: The global crypto exchange was the fourth independent sequencer node provider to go live on Metis in December 2024.
More recently, Metis initiated the Decentralized Sequencers (DSEQ) Reboot in December 2024 to improve the sequencer ecosystem with better community earning opportunities, increased liquidity for the DeFi ecosystem, and project support tools.
Community and Ecosystem Development Initiatives
In January 2024, the Metis Foundation allocated 250,000 METIS tokens as ecosystem grants to be utilized throughout the year.
Later, in August, Metis launched its first Quadratic Funding (QF) round with over 3,000 METIS tokens worth $100,000 in partnership with Gitcoin Grants Stack. The curated QF is an innovative crowdfunding mechanism to empower the Metis community to contribute directly to creative projects. QF Round 1 has been successful, with 34 projects receiving over $37,000 from 883 unique donors.
Encouraged by the QF’s success, Metis launched STARTathon. It is a four-month program for web3 developers and entrepreneurs, combining a hackathon development environment with the long-term support of an accelerator.
On top of that, Metis also launched the Metis Accelerate Grants program with a budget of $250,000 for rapidly expanding web3 projects. To continue its support for innovative web3 protocols, the Metis Foundation has also pledged to offer $4 million in its annualized incentives program.
Finally, Metis introduced the Metis Voyage Alphadrop campaign, which aims to strengthen the Metis community and encourage them to explore the Metis dApps ecosystem. Participants and contributors get the opportunity to learn and complete quests to earn BITS tokens, which turn into real rewards.
GameFi Growth
The Metis GameFi ecosystem thrived in 2024 with engaging and rewarding games like the DeFi Kingdoms Colosseum.
Metis also initiated the Metis GameFi Quantum Leap Accelerator Program in collaboration with ABGA and Google Cloud. Its first three projects, Score Milk, BUZZ, and Arena of Faith, have been the most successful games.
BUZZ is a Telegram mini-app game backed by $50,000 METIS tokens. Metis users can play BUZZ to win rewards through interactive gameplay. Arena of Faith is another interesting Metis game in a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) format with a unique POFS consensus mechanism for fair gameplay and new revenue opportunities. And ScoreMilk is a leading browser-based gaming platform where players can have fun playing casual games while earning up to hundreds of dollars worth of rewards each week.
Partnerships and Collaborations
In 2024, Metis also partnered with some of the leading projects in the web3 industry. Some of the spotlight partnerships included:
- Aave: Integrated METIS tokens as collateral on Aave to facilitate borrowing for Metis users with a 30% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio.
- Chainlink: Collaboration with Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) as Metis’s canonical cross-chain infrastructure.
- DeFi Kingdoms: Onboarded DeFi Kingdoms’ PvP gaming experience Colosseum exclusively to Metis.
- Google Cloud & ABGA: Strategic collaboration with ABGA, a global web3 gaming club, and Google Cloud Web3 to launch the GameFi Quantum Leap Accelerator Program.
- API3: Collaborated with API3 to bring decentralized price feed data to Metis.
- Thrive: Partnered with Thrive Protocol to offer $3.6 million as developer, creator, and ecosystem contributor rewards.
- codatta: Partnership with codatta, a leading AI-powered collaboration protocol for blockchain metadata for accessible on-chain data analytics.
- Cede.store: Integration with Cede.store to seamlessly transfer liquidity from centralized exchanges to Metis.
- Leading Bridges: Partnership with Router Nitro, Omni, and Synapse for token bridging.
- Integration with Secret Network’s Confidential Computing Layer to build a robust privacy-preserving DeFi landscape.
- Maestro: Integration with Maestro Bots for a better trading landscape and Ethena for generating yields.
- Leading Wallets: Integration with imToken Wallet and Coin98 super wallet.
- Nodies: Partnership with Nodies for community testing.
Overall, 2024 was a year of comprehensive ecosystem growth for Metis. It plans to continue the momentum into 2025 to make itself the most builder-supportive, user-rewarding, and decentralized Ethereum Layer-2.
Greg Grzesiak is an Entrepreneur-In-Residence and Columnist at Grit Daily. As CEO of Grzesiak Growth LLC, Greg dedicates his time to helping CEOs influencers and entrepreneurs make the appearances that will grow their following in their reach globally. Over the years he has built strong partnerships with high profile educators and influencers in Youtube and traditional finance space. Greg is a University of Florida graduate with years of experience in marketing and journalism.
