mETH (Mantle Staked Ether) is a liquid staking token that represents ETH staked through mETH Protocol, minted 1:1 (plus accrued rewards) against ETH deposited by users. Its canonical, non-rebasing contract sits on Ethereum mainnet, deployed 2023-10-06, and can be redeemed for the underlying staked ETH plus yield.
A 1:1 bridged mirror implementation also exists on Mantle L2, deployed 2023-11-21 — the chain that governs the protocol and after which the token is named.
mETH's differentiation among Ethereum liquid staking tokens rests on scale and an unblemished safety record. The protocol reached a peak TVL of $2.19 billion, at one point ranking as the 4th-largest ETH LST, with zero reported validator slashing incidents.
It is further complemented by a liquid restaking token, cmETH, which held about $277 million alongside roughly $791.7 million in mETH's own ETH holdings in late 2025, extending yield generation beyond base ETH staking.
mETH is a utility/receipt token, not a governance token: holding it represents a claim on staked ETH plus accrued rewards, redeemable for the underlying ETH. Holders commonly use mETH as collateral or a liquidity-pool asset within DeFi rather than for voting.
Protocol governance instead runs through the separate $COOK token and Mantle's MNT token, both distinct from mETH itself.
mETH's total supply is 233,943.75 mETH, of which approximately 214,900 mETH circulate as of 2026-08-31.
Net emission is inflationary: new mETH is continuously minted as ETH deposits and staking rewards accrue, with daily supply growth averaging around a 10% exponential moving average.
mETH launched without a public sale or ICO: it is minted 1:1 against user ETH deposits, following a proposal raised in the Mantle governance forum in July 2023. The canonical Ethereum contract went live October 6, 2023, roughly three months after the founding proposal, with a bridged Mantle mirror contract following November 21, 2023.
No seed/VC round or ICO price applies to mETH itself, since it functions as a staking receipt token rather than a fundraising asset.
mETH's canonical mint/redeem contract runs on Ethereum (L1) mainnet, secured by Ethereum's proof-of-stake consensus, since the underlying ETH is staked at Ethereum's consensus layer. A 1:1 bridged mirror implementation also exists on Mantle, the Ethereum Layer-2 network that governs the protocol and lent the token its name.
mETH Protocol does not publicly name individual founders or team members. Its official site attributes operational security to "top-tier infrastructure providers" and a "Guardian network" rather than named individuals, and CertiK notes the team is not independently verified.
The project's public GitHub (mantle-lsp) shows low community/star activity. mETH Protocol operates as a Mantle-ecosystem contributor effort rather than a conventionally credited founder team.
mETH is issued by mETH Protocol (formerly branded Mantle LSP), operated under the Mantle ecosystem and governed by Mantle Governance DAO. Mantle originated from BitDAO, which the community voted in May 2023 to rebrand as Mantle Governance, converting BIT to MNT 1:1 in June 2023.
mETH Protocol was proposed in the Mantle governance forum in July 2023 and launched on Ethereum shortly after. Official channels include methprotocol.xyz and mantle.xyz/meth.
mETH Protocol is governed by Mantle DAO, whose MNT holders vote on protocol parameters and control one of the largest on-chain DAO treasuries. A dedicated governance token, $COOK, launched October 29, 2024 specifically to let holders guide mETH Protocol's strategic direction.
mETH Protocol completed its third major audit cycle (v3.01) in October-November 2025, with reviews from Exvul, BlockSec, Hexens, and MixBytes. The protocol has also run a "Double-Dose Drive" promotion offering roughly double market-rate staking yield, capped at 600,000 staked ETH.
Separately, the broader Mantle network has been reported to be integrating ZK proofs and migrating toward Ethereum blob-based data availability for scalability and security improvements.
mETH Protocol has undergone 11 third-party security audits across three upgrade cycles — v1.01 (2023), v2.01 (2024), v3.01 (2025). Firms involved include Hexens, MixBytes, Secure3, Verilog, BlockSec, Quantstamp, Fuzzland, and Exvul, with over $1 million invested in audits/security and zero reported validator slashing incidents.