The native token of BitDAO, BIT, is poised to rebrand as Mantle following a community majority vote in favor of a proposal aimed at optimizing the token in preparation for the launch of a new layer-2 mainnet. The BIP-21 proposal sought to consolidate the BitDAO ecosystem under the “One brand, One token” philosophy, with over 235 million BIT tokens approving the change and a mere 988 BIT tokens opposing it. This effectively paves the way for the shift to Mantle.
This proposal highlights the unity of BitDAO ecosystem, governance (BitDAO), and product (Mantle) under the name Mantle. Despite this change, governance processes and treasury management will remain intact, while BIT holders will experience a token conversion process for the upcoming Mantle token.
The transition comes as the mainnet of Mantle – an Ethereum-based layer-2 scaling protocol – is scheduled for completion within a few weeks. Some well-known supporters of BitDAO include crypto exchange Bybit, Pantera Capital, Dragonfly, and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
Mantle elaborated on the development in a blog post, noting the confusion among many who expected a separate gas token and did not realize the growing utility of $BIT. The post explains that Mantle will serve as the common connecting element across the ecosystem, with the token conversion set to occur before the mainnet launch to avoid gas token migration on an active network.
The so-called “brand optimization” aims to reduce the complexity of the BIT ecosystem, as BitDAO recognizes in its proposal. Unclear valuation of $BIT has been raised as an issue, with the token potentially being valued for its governance component, product component, or a combination of the two.
Founded in 2021 after a highly successful $230 million funding round led by Peter Thiel, BitDAO has strong connections to industry giants like Meta (previously Facebook), Airbnb, LinkedIn, and Stripe. The Mantle ecosystem will also inherit BitDAO’s treasury of nearly $300 million in USDC/USDT and around 270k ETH, valuing the total BitDAO treasury at over $2.5 billion.
The proposal emphasizes that token conversion rules and ratios will apply equally to all holders, who do not need to take any action ahead of time. Key details, such as the new token’s official name, ticker symbol, design, conversion mechanisms, and channels, will be shared publicly once the audit is complete. Additionally, a flexible conversion period seeks to ensure a smooth user experience, minimize preparatory actions on token holders’ parts, and provide new buyers with the convenience of acquiring $BIT in anticipation of the conversion.
Source: Cryptonews
