BitDAO’s native token BIT is set to rebrand to Mantle after the community voted in favor of a proposal seeking to optimize the token ahead of the launch of a new layer-2 mainnet.
The measure was approved by a majority vote as part of the BIP-21 proposal, which sought to unify the BitDAO ecosystem under a “One brand, One token” principle.
According to the final results, more than 235 million BIT tokens were cast in favor of the transmission while another 988 BIT tokens voted against it, solidifying the transition to Mantle.
As per the proposal, the BitDAO ecosystem, governance (BitDAO) and product (Mantle), will be unified as Mantle. While governance processes and treasury management will remain unchanged, BIT holders will undergo a token conversion process for the new Mantle token.
The move comes ahead of the mainnet launch of Mantle, a scaling layer-2 protocol built on Ethereum, which is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
BitDAO is backed by crypto exchange Bybit, along with Pantera Capital, Dragonfly, and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
“Many people were anticipating a separate gas token and didn’t understand that the utility of $BIT was growing. With the changes, Mantle will act as the common binding thread across the ecosystem,” Mantle said in a blog post.
“With the changes, Mantle will act as the common binding thread across the ecosystem. The timing has also been impeccable in that the token conversion will happen before mainnet, so users won’t need to migrate the gas token of a running network.”
BitDAO Aims to Reduce Complexity of its Ecosystem
In the proposal, BitDAO claimed that the “brand optimization” is aimed to reduce the complexity of the BIT ecosystem.
“There is complexity as to whether $BIT should be valued for its governance component or product component or some combination,” the proposal read.
BitDAO was established in 2021 after a successful $230 million funding round led by prominent investor Peter Thiel, known for his involvement in major ventures such as Facebook (now Meta), Airbnb, LinkedIn, and Stripe.
Meanwhile, the Mantle ecosystem will inherit BitDAO’s treasury, receiving almost $300 million in USDC/USDT and approximately 270k ETH, with the total BitDAO treasury valued at over $2.5 billion.
The proposal also noted that token conversion rules and ratios will apply to all token holders equally, who are not required to take any action in advance.
The new token’s official name, ticker symbol, design, conversion mechanisms, and channels will be announced and shared with the public upon audit completion.
“A flexible conversion period will be employed to enable the smoothest user experience, minimize preparatory actions on token holders’ part, and afford new buyers the convenience to acquire $BIT in anticipation of the conversion.”
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