FAQ
General
What is Mana?
Mana is a decentralised non-custodial liquidity protocol where users can participate as suppliers or borrowers. Suppliers provide liquidity to the market while earning interest, and borrowers can access liquidity by providing collateral that exceeds the borrowed amount.
How do I interact with Mana?
Mana is a decentralised, non-custodial liquidity protocol that is completely permissionless, meaning anyone can access it. Users can interact with Mana through a user-friendly interface or directly with its smart contracts on supported blockchain networks. This openness also enables the creation of third-party services or applications that integrate with the protocol. To interact with the Mana Protocol, simply connect your crypto wallet and supply your preferred asset and amount. Once supplied, you'll earn passive income based on market borrowing demand. Additionally, your supplied assets can be used as collateral, enabling you to borrow other assets.
Do I need a wallet to interact with Mana?
Yes, you need a wallet to interact with Mana. Each instance of the Mana Protocol is deployed to a blockchain network. To interact with Mana, you need a wallet on the corresponding network such as a hardware wallet, browser extension, mobile wallet, multi-signature wallets, among others. When interacting with an Mana Protocol interface, wallets are connected using methods such as mobile wallets (Family), browser wallets (MetaMask, Rabby, etc.), WalletConnect, and more. These connection methods are utilized to prompt for messages and transactions to be signed in the connected wallet.
What is the cost of interacting with Mana?
Interacting with the Mana Protocol requires transactions on BSC or other blockchain networks where Mana is deployed. These transactions may incur gas fees, which are non-refundable network transaction fees determined by the network status and transaction complexity. The connected wallet will ask you to confirm the gas fee when signing a transaction.
How can I access Mana?
There are multiple interfaces available to access the Mana Protocol. Below are just a few examples:
All actions are available directly through protocol smart contracts, which can be accessed through block explorers or code by following the guidelines available in the docs.
Can funds be frozen?
No central entity, including Mana Devs or any individual contributor, has the authority or ability to freeze or alter individual user positions within the Mana ecosystem. The Mana Protocol is fully decentralized and governed by the Mana Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), which is controlled by MANA token holders. As such, users maintain complete self-custody of their funds, and there is no mechanism for freezing or modifying individual positions by any entity.
Risk Management Controls: While individual positions are untouchable, the protocol includes specific risk management functions designed to safeguard the overall system. These functions are strictly limited to broader protocol actions and do not extend to individual user positions:
1. PoolAdmin Role: The PoolAdmin can only pause all interactions within the entire pool of assets.
2. EmergencyAdmin Role: The EmergencyAdmin role — currently held by the Mana Guardian — can pause specific reserves for purposes of risk management. However, even this action is limited to the reserve level and does not allow for freezing or altering individual positions. These roles are designed to protect the integrity of the protocol as a whole and do not have the capability to interfere with or directly manage individual user funds.
Why do I need to approve tokens?
Approving tokens is a necessary step when performing actions that involve transferring tokens to a smart contract, such as supplying and repaying tokens to the Mana Protocol. If a token approval is required, frontends such as the Mana Devs Lending interface will prompt users to perform the approval with one of the following methods:
Transaction: a transaction is an onchain action that requires gas fees and time to confirm. You will be prompted to approve/pay for the gas fee to facilitate the transaction.
Signature: when a signature approval is required to transfer tokens, you will be prompted to sign a message with the same wallet making the transaction. Message signing is free and instant, however, it is only available for certain tokens ( EIP-2612 compatible), and wallet types (private key wallets).
Risk
What are the risks involved in using Mana?
No protocol can be considered entirely risk free, but extensive steps have been taken to minimize these risks as much as possible – the Mana Protocol code is publicly available and auditable by anyone. Any code changes must be executed through the onchain governance processes.
Smart Contract Risk
Smart contract risk involves the potential for bugs or vulnerabilities within the Mana Protocol code or the underlying reserve tokens.
Oracle Risk
Oracle risk arises from the reliance on third-party data providers for price feeds and other external data such as redemption ratio for liquid staking tokens. If an oracle fails or is compromised, it could lead to incorrect valuations of assets.
Collateral Risk
Collateral risk pertains to the value and stability of assets used as collateral. The inability to liquidate collateral due to rapid decrease in value or insufficient external liquidity can result in bad debt.
What steps are taken to mitigate risks?
Smart Contract Risk
Mana employs onchain governance, which validates that any changes to the protocol are thoroughly vetted and approved by the community. Additionally, service providers contribute their expertise to identify and mitigate potential risks. The protocol also runs an ongoing bug bounty program that encourages external developers to find and report vulnerabilities.
Oracle Risk
Mana mitigates oracle risks by using decentralised oracles such as Chainlink to provide reliable and tamper-resistant price and redemption ratio feeds.
Collateral Risk
To address collateral risks, the Mana DAO engages risk service providers who continuously monitor the collateral assets and market conditions to provide insights and adjustments. The protocol sets risk parameters such as loan-to-value (LTV) and liquidation thresholds to promote the maintenance of overcollateralized borrow positions. Onchain governance allows the community to adjust these risk parameters as needed to respond to changing market conditions, further safeguarding the protocol.
Supplying & Earning
How do I supply?
Browse to the "Supply" section and click on "Supply" for the asset you want to supply. Select the amount you'd like to supply and submit your transaction. Once the transaction is confirmed, your supply is successfully registered and you begin earning interest. Transferring tokens on an BSC based network requires a token approval from your self-custodial wallet. This must be performed with a transaction or signed message prior to the supply.
How much can I earn?
Suppliers receive continuous earnings that evolve with market conditions based on:
The interest rate payment on borrow positions: Suppliers share the interests paid by borrowers corresponding to the average borrow rate times the utilization rate. The higher the utilization of a reserve, the higher the yield for suppliers.
Flash Loan fees: Suppliers receive a share of the Flash Loan fees corresponding to 0.09% of the Flash Loan volume.
You can find the current supply rate for each token in the Markets tab of the Mana Devs Lending Interface. Historic rates can be viewed by clicking on individual tokens to view their corresponding reserve details page.
Are there limitations to supply?
There is no minimum amount to supply.
Where are supplied tokens stored?
Supplied tokens are stored in publicly accessible smart contracts that enable overcollateralised borrowing according to governance-approved parameters. The Mana Protocol smart contracts have been audited and formally verified by third parties.
How do I withdraw?
Withdrawing from the Mana Protocol occurs on the Pool smart contract. Withdrawal transactions can be performed through the Mana Devs Lending Interface by navigating to the "Dashboard" section and clicking "Withdraw." Select the amount to withdraw and submit the transaction.
You need to make sure there is enough liquidity (not borrowed) in order to withdraw, if this is not the case, you need to wait for more liquidity from suppliers or borrowers repaying.
Can I opt-out of my asset being used as a collateral?
Yes. After supplying your assets, you are able to unselect the asset so that it will not be used as collateral. The opt-out is available in the "Supply" section within your dashboard. Simply switch the "use as collateral" button on the asset you would prefer to opt-out from being used as a collateral.
You can withdraw your assets without opting out of using them as collateral, as long as those funds are not actively being used to borrow and provided the withdrawal amount would not cause a liquidation on your borrow positions.
Borrowing
How do I borrow?
Before borrowing you need to supply approved asset to be used as collateral (check out the Supplying & Earning FAQ section for more info). After this, you can execute a borrow from the Mana smart contracts or a user interface. On the Mana Devs Lending Interface, head to the Borrow section and click on "Borrow" for the asset you want to borrow. Adjust the amount you need based on the available collateral balance, and confirm the transaction in your wallet.
How much can I borrow?
The maximum amount you can borrow depends on the value you have supplied, the available liquidity, and the asset borrow cap. For example, you can't borrow an asset if there is not enough liquidity or if your health factor doesn't allow you to. You can find all collateral available and their specific borrow parameters in the risk parameters dashboard.
Why would I borrow instead of selling my assets?
Selling your assets means closing your position on that particular asset. Hence, if you are long on the asset, you would not be entitled to the potential upside value gain. By borrowing you are able to obtain liquidity (working capital) without selling your assets. Users are mainly borrowing for unexpected expenses, leveraging their holdings or for new investment opportunities.
How do I repay my borrow position?
Borrow positions can be repaid through Mana smart contracts or a user interface. On the Mana Devs Lending Interface, go to the Borrowings section of your dashboard and click on the "Repay" button for the asset you borrowed and want to repay. Select the amount to repay and confirm the transaction.
You repay your borrow position in the same asset you borrowed. For example, if you borrow 1 DAI you will pay back 1 DAI + interest accrued. The Mana Devs Lending Interface also integrates a repay with collateral feature, which uses flashloans and DEX integrations to allow borrow positions to be repaid with mTokens.
How much would I pay in interest?
The interest rate you pay for borrowing assets depends on the supply and demand ratio of the asset and interest rate curve parameters determined by Mana Governance.
You can find the current borrow rate for each borrowable token in the Markets tab of the Mana Devs Lending Interface. Historic rates can be viewed by clicking on individual tokens to view their corresponding reserve details page.
When do I need to pay back the borrow position?
There is no fixed time period to pay back the borrow position. As long as your position is properly collateralised, you can borrow for an undefined period. However, as time passes, the accrued interest will grow making your health factor decrease, which might result in your supplied assets becoming more likely to be liquidated.
Liquidations
What is Health Factor?
Health factor is the numeric representation of the safety of a borrow position, calculated as:
Total Collateral Value * Weighted Average Liquidation Threshold / Total Borrow Value
Liquidation Threshold is a parameter determined by Mana Governance for each collateral asset, which is the maximum percentage of value that can be borrowed against a collateral asset. A health factor below 1 represents a borrow position that is eligible for liquidation.
For example, if you supply $10,000 in BNB with an 80% threshold and borrow $6,000 in USDC, your health factor = 10000 * 0.8 / 6000 = 1.333.
What happens when my health factor is reduced?
Depending on the value fluctuation of your supplies, the health factor will increase or decrease. If your health factor increases, it will improve your borrow position by making the liquidation threshold more unlikely to be reached. In the case that the value of your collateralised assets against the borrowed assets decreases, your health factor is also reduced, resulting in increased liquidation risk.
What are liquidations?
A liquidation is a process that occurs when a borrower's health factor goes below 1 because their collateral value does not properly cover their borrow value. This can happen when the collateral value decreases and /or when the borrow position value increases beyond the liquidation threshold of the collateral assets.
In a liquidation, up to 50% of a borrower's debt is repaid and that value + the liquidation fee is taken from the collateral available, so after a liquidation that amount liquidated from your borrow position is repaid.
Liquidations are a permissionless feature of the Mana Protocol. If a borrow position has insufficient collateral to cover the liquidation threshold, then any address on the network is able to initiate a liquidation transaction.
How much is the liquidation penalty?
The liquidation penalty (or bonus for liquidators) depends on the asset used as collateral. You can find every asset's liquidation fee in the risk parameters dashboard.
Can you give an example?
Example 1
Bob supplies 10 BNB and borrows 5 BNB worth of DAI. If Bob's Health Factor drops below 1 his borrow position will be eligible for liquidation. A liquidator can repay up to 50% of a single borrowed amount = 2.5 BNB worth of DAI. In return, the liquidator can claim a single collateral which is BNB(5% bonus).
The liquidator claims 2.5 + 0.125 BNB for repaying 2.5 BNB worth of DAI.
Example 2
Bob supplies 5 BNB and 4 BNB worth of WBTC, and borrows 5 BNB worth of DAI. If Bob's Health Factor drops below 1 his borrow position will be eligible for liquidation. A liquidator can repay up to 50% of a single borrowed amount = 2.5 BNB worth of DAI. In return, the liquidator can claim a single collateral, as the liquidation bonus is higher for WBTC (15%) than BNB (5%) the liquidator chooses to claim WBTC.
The liquidator claims 2.5 + 0.375 BNB worth of WBTC for repaying 2.5 BNB worth of DAI.
What is a good Health Factor?
Health Factor represents the ratio of collateral to borrow value. There is not an exact answer as to what constitutes a "safe" health factor as it depends on the volatility and correlation of collateral and borrow asset prices.
Each collateral and borrow asset has a corresponding oracle that reports the price of the token with respect to a base currency (typically USD). In general, if the collateral and borrow assets are highly correlated with respect to the base currency (such as supplying and borrowing only stablecoins or ETH-correlated assets), a lower health factor can be considered safe compared to a position where assets are not correlated.
What is my liquidation price?
The liquidation price of an account is a point at which the balances and oracle prices of the collateral and borrow positions results in a health factor < 1.0. Health factor depends on the balances and oracle prices of all collateral and borrow tokens, so liquidation price is not a single point, it is a curve of combinations.
How can I avoid getting liquidated?
To avoid liquidation you can raise your health factor by supplying more collateral assets or repaying part of your borrow position. By default, repayments increase your health factor more than supplies. Also, it's important to monitor your health factor and keep it high to avoid a liquidation. Keeping your health factor over 2, for example, gives you more of a margin to avoid a liquidation.
You should be mindful of stablecoin price fluctuations due to market conditions and how it might affect your Health Factor. For example, the market price of USDC 1.00 might not equal exactly USD 1.00, but USD 0.95, for example. The price fluctuations of stablecoins, like any assets, affects your Health Factor.
Governance
What is Mana Governance?
The Mana Protocol is governed by the MANA token holder community through procedures, voting, and smart contract execution, collectively known as Mana Governance.
All instances of the Mana Protocol are governed by the MANA and stkMANA token holders on BSC.
The Governance Process guide details the proposal lifecycle from idea to execution, which includes phases for discussion → onchain voting and execution.
What do I need to vote?
In order to vote you need to have MANA or stkMANA (Staked MANA) tokens on BSC. Voting power is the sum of token balances and incoming delegations.
How do I vote?
Voting occurs through Mana Governance smart contracts. Users can vote on Mana Devs Lending Interface.
What is the voting threshold?
The threshold is dynamic and can change based on the quorum + differential of votes for/against an MIP.
If there are very few votes against an MIP, the threshold will remain the same. However, if the votes against the MIP are more substantial, then the threshold can be moved up so there must be more votes in favor for the MIP to pass. This is to validate that an MIP has overwhelming approval before it is implemented.
For example:
If the quorum is 20%, the differential is 15% and 2% of the total votes are against the MIP, the threshold would remain at 20% (because 15+2 = 17 is less than 20).
If the quorum is 20%, the differential is 15% and 6% of the total votes are against the MIP, then the threshold would be raised to 21% (because 15+6=21), so more "yae" votes would be required for the MIP to pass.
What is the Mana Treasury?
The Mana Treasury is a smart contract instance, controlled by Mana Governance.
Each borrowable reserve in an Mana market has a parameter called reserve factor, which is the percentage of borrow interest accumulated to the treasury and is determined on a per-asset basis by Mana Governance.
Is it mandatory to participate in Mana Governance?
Participation in Mana Governance is optional. Users can access the Mana Protocol without participating in governance.
Safety Module
What is Safety Module?
The Safety Module supports staking MANA (stkMANA). This helps to maintain the stability and security of the Mana ecosystem.
The Safety Module is designed to do slashings for a shortfall event, but in very low order of magnitude. You earn rewards as a staker, but you also accept the associated risk.
What is staking?
Staking consists of supplying MANA tokens within the protocol Safety Module. The purpose of staking is to act as a mitigation tool in case of a shortfall event. As an incentive for this, Safety Module stakers will receive Safety Incentives.
What is the risk of staking?
stkMANA: Maximum slashing risk is up to 30% of the staked assets
What is the incentive for staking?
stkMANA: 100 MANA/day
Current emission rates can be viewed as an annual percentage on the Mana Devs Lending Interface.
How do I start staking?
Staking can be performed through the Mana Devs Lending Interface Staking section. Select 'stake', input the amount to stake and click on 'stake'. Then proceed to send 2 transactions:
Approve: This is a required transaction prior to the staking that allows the staking contract to move your tokens. This transaction won't be required if you perform additional staking actions unless you revoke the approval.
Stake: This transaction performs the action to stake your tokens. When confirmed, your tokens will be staked in the Safety Module.
What is the cooldown period?
stkMANA: 20-day cooldown period
Can I add more tokens while in cooldown period?
You can stake more tokens in the Safety Module or receive staked tokens, but that would increase your cooldown period based on the amount received. Even if the amount received is big enough, it will reset your cooldown period requiring you to activate it again before you can unstake.
How do I claim my rewards?
Once staking, you accrue Safety Module rewards continuously and can claim them at any time on the staking section by clicking "Claim". The reward tokens will be in your connected wallet as soon as the transaction is confirmed.
The system is fully on-chain, so you can claim your rewards whenever you want by doing a blockchain transaction.
Other Features
What is a Flash Loan?
Flash loans are a feature designed for developers, due to the technical knowledge required to execute one. Flash Loans allow you to borrow any available amount of assets without putting up any collateral, as long as the liquidity is returned to the protocol within one block transaction. To do a Flash Loan, you will need to build a contract that requests a Flash Loan. The contract will then need to execute the instructed steps and pay back the Flash Loan + fee (0.09%) all within the same transaction.
Is it possible to use Flash Loans without coding?
Yes, there are tools allowing users to utilize Flash Loans to access liquidity in the background for advanced features such as repay with collateral, collateral swap, and more.
How do the swap features work on manafortune.com?
The Mana Devs Lending Interface has multiple features that integrate asset swaps.
The "Repay with Collateral", "Collateral Swap" and "Borrow Swap" features utilize flashloan adapter contracts and ParaSwap as the swap provider.
The "Swap Tokens" feature enables users to swap between tokens using ParaSwap as the swap provider, depending on network availability.
How do I swap my asset?
In order to swap your assets you just need to go to the Dashboard and click"Switch tokens" button.
How do I repay with my collateral?
In order to repay with your assets you just need to go to the Dashboard and follow these steps:
Click on repay on the debt you want to repay.
Choose repay "With your current collateral".
Select the asset you want to repay and amount in the left side (Borrowed Asset).
Select the asset you want to use to repay to in the right side (Select Collateral).
Make sure to check the exchange rate and check the slippage. You can edit it based on your preferences. Depending on the slippage, the expected might differ and the transaction might even fail if you set it too low. After this click on Continue.
In the next step you need to send the approval and submit the transaction. The approval transaction will only be required the 1st time you do this step, unless you revoke the approval.
Make sure to have enough ETH for the transaction cost. After sending both transactions your repayment will be done.
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