• Swap wETH to Mantle’s mETH from major chains in under 60 seconds.
• No traditional bridges, slippage, or complex onboarding steps required.
• Netting + rebalancing cuts liquidity fragmentation and operational costs.

The blockchain industry’s liquidity fragmentation problem has a new solution.

Everclear, the interoperability protocol formerly known as Connext, has launched cross-chain asset settlement on Mantle Network.

The partnership will allow users to convert wrapped Ethereum (wETH) from major chains including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and Polygon directly into Mantle’s mETH token in under 60 seconds.

The integration bypasses traditional bridging entirely, marking a significant infrastructure breakthrough for decentralized finance adoption.​

The partnership tackles one of DeFi’s most stubborn challenges: liquidity fragmentation.

As blockchain ecosystems have proliferated, identical assets now exist in multiple representations across different networks.

This fragmentation creates inefficiency, higher costs, and friction that deters both retail and institutional participation.

Everclear’s clearing infrastructure solves this problem by netting cross-chain flows and automatically rebalancing inventory, dramatically reducing redundant liquidity and operational costs.​

How the settlement layer works

The mechanics are elegant in their simplicity. Users holding wETH on any supported chain select Mantle as their destination.

Everclear’s solver network fills the intent immediately, delivering mETH to the user’s wallet while managing settlement and rebalancing operations behind the scenes at optimal pricing.

The result is zero slippage, fast execution, and capital efficiency that traditional bridges cannot match.​

Nikita Bulgakov from the Everclear Foundation explained the vision:

Everclear was built to be the settlement layer for a fragmented, multi-asset future. By connecting different representations of the same asset, we enable partners like Mantle and mETH Protocol to offer a truly chain-abstracted experience to users.​

Accelerating Mantle’s institutional adoption

Mantle has emerged as a serious contender in the liquidity infrastructure space, anchoring over $4 billion in community-owned assets and positioning itself as the premier gateway for institutions connecting with on-chain liquidity and real-world assets.

The mETH Protocol, Mantle’s flagship liquid staking solution, achieved a peak total value locked of $2.19 billion and is now integrated across 40+ major platforms including Bybit, Ethena, and leading custody providers like P2P and Copper.

“Real-world usability of on-chain assets depends on efficient settlement across chains,” said Emily Bao, Key Advisor of Mantle.

This integration reinforces Mantle’s RWA and ETH-native strategy by removing onboarding friction and enabling capital to flow into the ecosystem in a more scalable, institutional-grade way.

The Everclear partnership removes a critical barrier to growth.

Previously, users navigating multiple chains faced bridge risks, slippage costs, and complexity that discouraged participation. Now, onboarding becomes frictionless.

Expanding the settlement layer

Everclear already processes approximately $400 million in monthly volume across blue-chip assets and stablecoins, serving professional users including market makers, solvers, bridges, and exchanges.

The Mantle launch marks the beginning of expanded cross-asset settlement capabilities, with plans to support additional ETH-based assets, stablecoins, and emerging blockchain networks.​

This development underscores the industry’s evolution toward chain-abstracted finance, where users and institutions interact with blockchain infrastructure without managing underlying complexity.

For the DeFi ecosystem, it represents a meaningful step toward mainstream adoption.

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Mantle partners with Everclear to enable instant, frictionless wETH-to-mETH swaps across major Ethereum chains, eliminating traditional bridging.

• Group-IB published its report on Jan. 15 and said the method could make disruption harder for defenders.
• The malware reads on-chain data, so victims do not pay gas fees.
• Researchers said Polygon is not vulnerable, but the tactic could spread.

Ransomware groups usually rely on command-and-control servers to manage communications after breaking into a system.

But security researchers now say a low-profile strain is using blockchain infrastructure in a way that could be harder to block.

In a report published on Jan. 15, cybersecurity firm Group-IB said a ransomware operation known as DeadLock is abusing Polygon (POL) smart contracts to store and rotate proxy server addresses.

These proxy servers are used to relay communication between attackers and victims after systems are infected.

Because the information sits on-chain and can be updated anytime, researchers warned that this approach could make the group’s backend more resilient and tougher to disrupt.

Smart contracts used to store proxy information

Group-IB said DeadLock does not depend on the usual setup of fixed command-and-control servers.

Instead, once a machine is compromised and encrypted, the ransomware queries a specific smart contract deployed on the Polygon network.

That contract stores the latest proxy address that DeadLock uses to communicate. The proxy acts as a middle layer, helping attackers maintain contact without exposing their main infrastructure directly.

Since the smart contract data is publicly readable, the malware can retrieve the details without sending any blockchain transactions.

This also means victims do not need to pay gas fees or interact with wallets.

DeadLock only reads the information, treating the blockchain as a persistent source of configuration data.

Rotating infrastructure without malware updates

One reason this method stands out is how quickly attackers can change their communication routes.

Group-IB said the actors behind DeadLock can update the proxy address stored inside the contract whenever necessary.

That gives them the ability to rotate infrastructure without modifying the ransomware itself or pushing new versions into the wild.

In traditional ransomware cases, defenders can sometimes block traffic by identifying known command-and-control servers.

But with an on-chain proxy list, any proxy that gets flagged can be replaced simply by updating the contract’s stored value.

Once contact is established through the updated proxy, victims receive ransom demands along with threats that stolen information will be sold if payment is not made.

Why takedowns become more difficult

Group-IB warned that using blockchain data this way makes disruption significantly harder.

There is no single central server that can be seized, removed, or shut down.

Even if a specific proxy address is blocked, the attackers can switch to another one without having to redeploy the malware.

Since the smart contract remains accessible through Polygon’s distributed nodes worldwide, the configuration data can continue to exist even if the infrastructure on the attackers’ side changes.

Researchers said this gives ransomware operators a more resilient command-and-control mechanism compared with conventional hosting setups.

A small campaign with an inventive method

DeadLock was first observed in July 2025 and has stayed relatively low profile so far.

Group-IB said the operation has only a limited number of confirmed victims.

The report also noted that DeadLock is not linked to known ransomware affiliate programmes and does not appear to operate a public data leak site.

While that may explain why the group has received less attention than major ransomware brands, researchers said its technical approach deserves close monitoring.

Group-IB warned that even if DeadLock remains small, its technique could be copied by more established cybercriminal groups.

No Polygon vulnerability involved

The researchers stressed that DeadLock is not exploiting any vulnerability in Polygon itself.

It is also not attacking third-party smart contracts such as decentralised finance protocols, wallets, or bridges.

Instead, the attackers are abusing the public and immutable nature of blockchain data to hide configuration information.

Group-IB compared the technique to earlier “EtherHiding” approaches, where criminals used blockchain networks to distribute malicious configuration data.

Several smart contracts connected to the campaign were deployed or updated between August and Nov. 2025, according to the firm’s analysis.

Researchers said the activity remains limited for now, but the concept could be reused in many different forms by other threat actors.

While Polygon users and developers are not facing direct risk from this specific campaign, Group-IB said the case is another reminder that public blockchains can be misused to support off-chain criminal activity in ways that are difficult to detect and dismantle.

The post DeadLock ransomware abuses Polygon blockchain to rotate proxy servers quietly appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Polygon price pumped to highs of $0.15 amid a 15% spike.
• The POL token rose on Thursday as Bitcoin tried to bounce off its latest lows around $90,000.
• Open Money Stack and the potential Coinme acquisition buoyed buyers.

Polygon (ex-MATIC) saw a sharp 15% price surge in the past 24 hours, with the token inching to its highest level in a month amid broader cryptocurrency weakness.

The POL token traded around $0.14 at the time of writing, with trading volume up 137% to $228 million.

While Bitcoin seemed to struggle with downside pressure on Friday, the Polygon price spiked.

Data showed a double-digit rally, allowing the bulls to hit intraday highs of $0.15, gains that have added to renewed momentum following the ex-MATIC token’s rise from lows of $0.09 on January 1, 2026.

Polygon price today: Why is POL soaring?

As noted, the Polygon token’s price jumped to near $0.15 as the community reacted enthusiastically to key project-related developments.

Pivotal among these are plans to make the network the future of on-chain money.

News of what lies ahead in 2026 appears to have boosted bullish sentiment for the Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution.

The vision is outlined by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron.

Specifically, the project has announced Open Money Stack, a modular framework designed to bridge fiat and on-chain settlement.

Instead of creating a closed ecosystem, the Open Money Stack is built to be interoperable, allowing businesses to adopt only the components they require while remaining connected to other networks.

Polygon presents this approach as a move toward making blockchain-based payments as seamless as those in traditional financial systems.

According to Nailwal, “all money will move on-chain over time,” and Open Money Stack positions Polygon as a foundational infrastructure for the next era of programmable finance.

Another news that buoyed bulls was the report that Polygon is close to sealing a $100-$125 million acquisition of Coinme, a prominent Bitcoin ATM operator.

Coinme is one of the largest crypto ATM platforms and has a presence across 49 US states.

The acquisition represents a strategic move for Polygon and is key to the quest to bridge traditional fiat infrastructure and blockchain technology.

Investors are showing confidence amid these developments.

Overall, these moves signal the L2’s ambitious evolution.

Polygon price forecast

Bulls are hovering at a month high after breaking above the key resistance at $0.13.

Market conditions suggest caution is warranted. However, Polygon’s trajectory could extend upwards if bullish momentum persists.

The token’s recent breakout from lower levels showed bullish strength.

Buyers feared for the worst when POL dropped below $0.10, but amid a notable bounce, the next critical threshold lies at $0.20.

If bulls successfully reclaim this level, it could pave the way for a more substantial rally.

Immediate supply wall pressure above the $0.20 area will be $0.27 and $0.30, with the near term allowing for a retest of $0.50 range.

On the downside, year-to-date lows of $0.09 remain a key target.

The extended RSI on the chart above suggests potential pullback amid profit-taking.

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