Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) network Mantle’s native utility token MNT surged to a five-month high of $0.93 on Tuesday, gaining 23% over the past week and extending its 30-day gains to 63.6%.

The token is now up more than 55% over the past year, with a market cap of $3.13 billion, making Mantle the largest L2 by market cap, according to CoinGecko.

The recent price spike appears to be driven by growing activity on the network and anticipation around UR, a new app built on Mantle that’s set to exit beta on August 8. The app combines Swiss bank accounts and Mastercard debit cards with crypto self-custody, and represents Mantle’s first major product aimed at everyday users, according to Mantle’s website.

Mike Marshall, Head of Research at Amberdata, told The Defiant the beta phase deadline likely pushed investors to act early. “This deadline created urgency as investors position before launch, amplified by a broader Layer 2 rally as institutional adoption accelerates,” he said.

Marshall also pointed to strong growth in network activity over the past month, noting that Mantle’s daily users jumped from 7,000 to 137,000 – a 1,600% increase – with trading volume up 450%.

The broader L2 sector is also gaining momentum, up around 7% on the day as a category, making it the third-best-performing category on CoinGecko. That backdrop likely helped fuel MNT’s rise, according to Callum Clark, co-founder of Alvara.

“There is strong attention on L2s again, now that the market is heating up, but the launch of UR likely gave MNT a strong and well-timed boost,” Clark told The Defiant. “It’s also the first real consumer-facing product from Mantle, and I think that that ability to deliver is being rewarded.”

Meanwhile, Danny Nelson, a research analyst at Bitwise, added that Mantle’s long-term Ethereum (ETH) holdings are another reason investors are paying attention. "Nowadays, we often see public companies establishing strategic crypto reserves,” Nelson said. “With Mantle, we have a little bit of an inverse: it's a Web3 company that's effectively had one for years.”

Mantle currently holds around $388 million in ETH, it revealed last week on its official X account.

Nelson explained that just last week, Mantle was recognized as a member of the Strategic ETH Reserve.

“That moniker doesn't reflect a sudden change of mission for the Layer 2 chain,” he said. “What's changed is how Mantle treats it. Now, the project is proudly reminding the market that its bet on ETH is purposeful and enduring. The market is now seeing MNT in that context.”