Who controls it
- Transaction ordering
- Centralised, as at every major L2.
- Escape hatch
- The team’s instant upgrade authority can change the forced-withdrawal path before a holder uses it.
- Upgrade authority
- The Mantle team can push instant upgrades to the chain. L2BEAT withholds Stage 1 for this reason.
- Halts and outages
- Ketju found no liveness problem that bears on the verdict.
Ketju assessment
Ketju does not approve Mantle: the Mantle team can push instant upgrades, so a client has no window to withdraw before a rule change. L2BEAT rates Mantle Stage 0, its most cautious tier, for this reason. Mantle is the only L2 here that fails a fixed rule. Base and Arbitrum are Stage 1, with upgrade timelocks of about 7 days, which gives a client a window to withdraw before a rule change. Instant upgrade authority removes that window, and the team could upgrade away the forced-withdrawal path itself. A second concern adds to the first. Mantle uses EigenDA for data availability, a network secured by Ethereum restakers. Ketju does not approve ether.fi because of its restaking exposure. Mantle carries the same risk underneath its data availability layer, where it is harder to see.
Review triggers
- Ketju will review the chain again if L2BEAT promotes it to Stage 1.
Each trigger names a fact anyone can observe. If one occurs, Ketju will review the assessment again. None is a forecast.
Questions before use
- Does the client’s thesis require censorship resistance, or primarily low-cost settlement?
- Can the client withdraw without help from the party that normally orders transactions?
- Who can upgrade bridges or contracts, and what delay applies?
- Does the asset introduce an issuer weaker than the chain grade?
- What evidence will show a halt, censorship event, or governance change?