Manta Network Kenny Li: From Layer 2 Infrastructure to Building Killer Apps

I recently sat down with Kenny Li, co-founder of Manta Network, for a candid conversation about where Layer 2 blockchains are headed — and honestly, it was one of the most refreshing takes I’ve heard in a while. Kenny didn’t sugarcoat anything. The L2 landscape is a mess, and Manta is doing something pretty bold about it: pivoting away from pure infrastructure and going all-in on building actual applications that people want to use.

The Layer 2 Problem Nobody Wants to Admit

Let’s be real here. If you hop on Crypto Twitter, YouTube, or Telegram, what ecosystems are people actually talking about? Solana, Base, BNB Chain — and that’s pretty much it. Kenny put it perfectly: it’s like commercial real estate where we’ve built too many buildings and there aren’t enough people renting the offices. The L2 space got wildly overcrowded during the 2023 hype cycle when everyone and their dog wanted to launch a Layer 2. Now there’s way too much infrastructure fighting over scraps.

Making things worse, Ethereum itself is becoming more usable, which reduces the urgency for users to jump to new L2 chains. So you’ve got hundreds of Layer 2 networks competing for a shrinking pool of users. Kenny was brutally honest about this — and that honesty is exactly what led Manta to make a major strategic shift.

Manta’s Pivot: From Infrastructure to Applications

Manta Network started in the Polkadot ecosystem building privacy-focused infrastructure, then moved to Ethereum as a modular L2 with zkEVM compatibility. At one point, Manta Pacific became the third-largest Layer 2 by TVL, overtaking even Coinbase’s Base network. But Kenny and his team recognized that winning the infrastructure war wasn’t sustainable.

So they pivoted — again. This time, the focus is squarely on the application layer. Kenny’s logic is simple: if there aren’t enough users, there obviously aren’t enough compelling use cases. The world doesn’t need another perpetual DEX or another liquidity protocol. It needs something genuinely new.

Superfortune: Where Asian Astrology Meets Crypto Trading

This is where things get wild. Manta built an app called Superfortune, which pairs Bazi (Chinese metaphysics and astrology) with crypto trading. I know — it sounds ridiculous from a Western perspective. But here’s the thing: Bazi is deeply embedded in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese culture. Billions of people take it seriously, and many Asian crypto traders already consult fortune-based systems before making moves.

Superfortune reads contract data and token information, then pairs it with your Bazi profile to supplement trading strategies. And it’s working. The app became the top-performing dApp on BNB Chain by volume and daily active users for several weeks running. Trading communities across Asia are integrating the Telegram bot into their daily workflows, and major news agencies are looking to embed Superfortune into their apps.

Kenny even admitted he’s been using it himself — and he’s up. Whether you believe in cosmic alignment or not, the product-market fit is undeniable.

Junk Fun: Turning Your Dead Meme Coins Into Something

The second application Kenny revealed is Junk Fun, built in partnership with Bonk. If you’ve traded meme coins on Solana, Base, or BNB Chain, you probably have a wallet full of worthless tokens you can’t do anything with. Junk Fun lets you burn those dead meme coins, earn points, and enter weekly raffles with real prizes — $50,000 in the first month alone.

It’s essentially a recycling program for the degen economy. Every burn increases the raffle pool, creating a flywheel effect. There are millions of wallets out there stuffed with worthless meme coins, so the addressable market is massive. Kenny jokingly called it “building platforms for the trenches” — and honestly, that’s a pretty accurate description.

The Biggest Lesson: Never Be Afraid to Pivot

When I asked Kenny for his strongest lesson from years of building in crypto, his answer was immediate: never be afraid to pivot. He pointed to Gnosis as a prime example — they started as a prediction market (too early for their time), then pivoted to build Safe, the world’s largest decentralized multisig wallet. That pivot created billions in value.

Kenny admitted the Manta team was scared when shifting from infrastructure to applications. They worried people would see them as “just a dev shop.” But he pushed through the fear because, as he put it, all that matters is whether it works. And if it works, everyone will say they knew it would.

His second lesson was about team loyalty. Manta went through the classic cycle — super hot pre-TGE, then suddenly “not cool anymore” after token launch. The team members who stuck around through both phases are the ones who make long-term success possible. Some of his team members have been with Manta for three or four years now, which is an eternity in crypto.

Where Crypto Goes From Here

Kenny shared an interesting observation about the current market. Despite Bitcoin and Ethereum hitting all-time highs, Crypto Twitter is eerily quiet and altcoins are struggling. His take? The industry started with the promise of eliminating middlemen, but now it’s all about being the middleman and capturing revenue.

He believes the projects that will survive the next five to ten years are the ones that actually generate revenue and capture real users — not the ones riding speculative narratives. The era of launching infrastructure and hoping users show up is over. The future belongs to builders who create products people genuinely want to use, even if those products are as unconventional as fortune-telling trading bots or meme coin recyclers.

Kenny Li and Manta Network are proof that in crypto, the willingness to adapt is more valuable than any technical moat. Sometimes the smartest move isn’t building another bridge — it’s building something people actually want to cross it for.