The Ethereum ecosystem is by far the largest ecosystem that the cryptocurrency world currently has. DeFi, NFTs, different Metaverse, thousands of tokens are all built around the second biggest cryptocurrency. This means, however, that Ethereum needs to constantly improve, especially in the core cryptocurrency characteristics i.e., decentralization, scalability and security.
On its own, Ethereum would have a rather difficult position in solving everything. That is why the rise of different layer-2 solutions and projects can help to improve the infrastructure around Ethereum. And one of these projects that is aiming to solve these problems is MetisDAO (METIS).
What is MetisDAO (METIS)?
MetisDAO (METIS) is a general-purpose optimistic rollup that is built on Ethereum. While the project is still in development, several of its components were already launched, some of them in 2021, others in 2022.
MetisDAO is also building its own rollups (Metis Rollup) that should be easy-to-use, highly scalable and low cost. This project has several different purposes, from building a NFT bridge to developing more robust value-creating companies.
MetisDAO has decided to call its own explorer Andromeda, which is one of the most developed technologies that the project is currently building. It is also a bedrock to everything that MetisDAO is working on. Currently it processes about 20,000 transactions per day.
The whole community around MetisDAO can include anyone from open-source developers, gamers, freelancer, crowdfunding companies or influencers. It also offers possibilities of yield farming, decentralized social platforms or DEX trading. However, the biggest improvement this project can bring is a framework for Decentralized Autonomous Company (DAC).
A shift from DAOs to DACs
MetisDAO has realised that the current system connected to DAOs is not efficient and is very limited. Their value proposition is simple. The DAOs should be able to do much more than just governance voting or building the projects.
According to MetisDAO, Decentralized Autonomous Companies (DACs) should be able to also execute different functions than DAOs such as payroll, project management or HR. This should move them to work more similarly than traditional businesses, but in decentralized form.
The shift from DAOs to DACs should also help the employees that work within the companies. Employees will be able to try the companies before they join them thanks to the “try-before-you-buy” program. Employees will be able to have a much greater voice once they join the company, especially in the whole decision-making processes of the given company.
Registering for DAC
MetisDAO has already issued a clear way of how one can apply to be part of their DACs initiative. To start, the project needs to own METIS tokens, but other than that it usually should be pretty similar to a real-life company. The fees for registration are set for 10 METIS tokens that need to be staked. The longer anyone stakes the tokens, the better their reputation is since they receive “reputation” points according to the length of their staking period.
Once these staking requirements are met, the organisation can register to become a DAC and engage with the community within MetisDAO. This gives the METIS token one of its crucial usages and utilities.
MetisDAO claims that registering the company should be as easy as possible. Its goal is to make it so easy to register the DACs within the platform that even complete novices to cryptocurrencies and blockchain should be able to do it in a matter of minutes.
NFT Bridge with Ethereum
MetisDAO has created its own NFT bridge that helps to transfer any form of assets from the Metis’ Andromeda network to the Ethereum blockchain. To put it simply, this allows for instance for minting of an NFT on Metis (which could save money on minting fees) and transfer it to Ethereum later on.
It is also possible to do this whole process the other way around, minting an NFT on Ethereum and sending it to Metis, which would however be more costly. It is also possible to store the NFTs in a special distributed file storage system of NFTs in the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).
Team
The team around this project is not full of shiny, big names. Nevertheless, it possesses the quality, network and investment connections that even the biggest cryptocurrencies in the industry could envy.
For instance, Metis Lab is part of Genesi DAC, a venture capitalist DAC, with Natalia Ameline, mother of Vitalik Buterin, being in charge of the organisation. Other founding members include Yuan Siu, a technology lead and Elena Sinelinkova, co-founder and the CEO of educational blockchain non-profit for women, Cryptochicks. As per the website, the whole team building this project should have around 25 members.
Other than this, the company has received the support of various companies such as Gate.io labs, AU21 Capital or Master Ventures. The list of supporters, investors or partners also includes names such as Block Dream Fund, Hot Labs or Consensus Lab.
What is Polis?
MetisDAO has also created a software that makes it easy for any company or dApp to transfer to Metis’s layer-2. It is called Polis and it is a middleware management program that will allow the developers to create their own dApps or DACs. What is interesting about it is that they would not need to have any programming or coding skills to do that.
Polis is expected to also include a wallet client for staking of the METIS token. Once that happens, the transaction history of the given wallet can be perceived as a reputational tool. This would mean that the users, developers or DACs with more significant balance will have bigger voting power.
From Ethereum Virtual Machine to Metis Virtual Machine (MVM)
Metis has also created an alternative to Ethereum Virtual Machine called Metis Virtual Machine (MVM). MVM is compatible with EVM as it looks and behaves very similar to EVM. Yet, the main benefit it brings is that it is faster, cheaper and in most instances also easier to use than EVM. As of now, MVM also provides the highest throughput of any Ethereum-based clients.
It also allows the users to implement different dApps that have been built on Ethereum to the MVM. Thanks to this, Metis Virtual Machine has been regarded as a go-to tool for the developers and users of Ethereum who want to improve their user experience.
Metis ecosystem — security as the main goal
Due to the fact that MetisDAO is trying to build improved versions of DAOs, it has a rather large and growing ecosystem of projects that want to try and experiment with the solutions that MetisDAO is offering. It includes dozens of projects from different spheres of the cryptocurrency world such as bridges, DEXes, Metaverses, SocialFis or dApps and DeFis.
The best-known names that are connected to MetisDAO or Chainlink, Sushiswap, Aragon or PolyNetwork. However, the biggest names can be found in the section of wallets. MetisDAO is connected and offers infrastructures with wallets such as Trust wallet, Exodus wallet or Status wallet. This only shows that security is one of the main priorities of the MetisDAO ecosystem.
Metis Tokenomics. Source: CoinGecko
METIS token
We have already mentioned the token that MetisDAO is issuing. METIS is an ERC-20 governance token that is powering the whole ecosystem and can be used with different purposes. Other than staking and the connected “reputation” points that the users of the ecosystem can get, METIS token can also have a role when bundling or sending transactions to the Andromeda network.
If they decide to use the Andromeda network, the users will receive METIS tokens as rewards thanks to the program called “Builder Mining.” METIS token thus can be viewed as a financial incentive token on several levels.
Other than the traditional voting privileges and the fact that it is used for transaction fees, METIS can also be used for staking of DACs. It can also be used to purchase any type of goods or services that are present in the whole MetisDAO ecosystem.
METIS relies on the entities called Rangers, which must stake METIS tokens to be eligible to validate the transactions. If they are caught acting maliciously or break the rules of the network, they will receive a fine that will be deducted from their staked METIS tokens. This means that METIS is also helping with the safekeeping of the whole ecosystem.
Conclusion
Similarly to many different projects, MetisDAO is trying to help with the scalability and decentralization of Ethereum. Unlike any other project, however, MetisDAO has decided to revolutionise the work of decentralized autonomous organisations and invent a new way of business model in the cryptocurrency world called DAC. Whether it will catch on will be only possible to judge in coming months and years, as it is still a rather progressive vision.
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