RWA-friendly L1 blockchain adds native EVM and CosmWasm with protocol-level compliance

Mantra has upgraded its mainnet to natively run both the Ethereum Virtual Machine and CosmWasm, bringing a MultiVM architecture to an RWA-focused layer 1 so developers can use familiar tooling on a chain tuned for tokenization.

Tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) presents an addressable market that analysts estimate at about $16 trillion. But progress has been slowed by fragmented developer tooling, uncertain regulatory pathways and limited interoperability across ecosystems.

To close those gaps, the RWA-focused layer-1 blockchain Mantra has upgraded its mainnet to add native support for both the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and CosmWasm — a smart-contract framework for Cosmos that compiles to WebAssembly.

The upgrade embeds specific requirements at the protocol level and is backed by Mantra Finance’s virtual asset service provider (VASP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).

MultiVM blockchain for RWAs

Mantra’s upgrade marks a notable first for RWA-focused layer-1 chains: a MultiVM design that unifies EVM depth with CosmWasm in production. MultiVM means the chain can run more than one smart-contract virtual machine side by side, so teams keep familiar tooling while gaining a base layer with compliance checks wired in, designed for institutional workflows.

“Mantra Chain is at the heart of the Mantra ecosystem,” said Mantra founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin. “With this EVM upgrade, we’re not just improving performance; we’re further embedding compliance into the protocol, opening the door to a new era of accessibility, trust and regulatory clarity when tokenizing RWAs. It’s another important step toward making the future of finance more open and efficient for everyone.”

Why protocol-level compliance matters

Many blockchains add controls only through application-level contracts, yet those can vary from app to app and create uneven enforcement. Shifting certain requirements into the base protocol is meant to provide consistent guardrails across the network, which reduces ambiguity for compliance teams and simplifies risk reviews for institutions that must evidence controls end-to-end.

Here’s what changes for developers and institutions:

• Deploy as-is: Developers can launch Solidity-based decentralized applications (DApps) on Mantra Chain without code changes and can fork DeFi protocols for RWA use.

• EVM depth: The chain supports low-level EVM instructions (opcodes) and optimized system contracts (precompiles), along with low fees and RWA-oriented infrastructure.

• Institutional pathway: EVM-compatible, self-sovereign chain coupled with Mantra Finance’s licensed infrastructure.

• Bridging next: Straightforward transfers from other EVM chains are on the near-term roadmap.

From here, the team says it will scale adoption, onboard new asset issuers and demonstrate how tokenized finance can run with clear audit trails, permissioning and policy enforcement.

Driving the RWA momentum

Mantra’s announcement follows several weeks of updates. In August, the project announced a strategic partnership with Inveniam to build an institutional RWA stack anchored in the UAE and the United States. Governance and decentralization have advanced as Mantra onboarded Binance, Nansen and Inveniam as validators while winding down internal ones.

“Two critical factors that distinguish Mantra from the competition are our VASP license from Dubai’s VARA, and our compliance-driven infrastructure,” Mullin summarized:

“When combined with full EVM interoperability, these will give investors, developers and asset owners what they seek — a powerful and compliant chain.”

Next up, Mantra plans permissioned liquidity pools, institutional compliance frameworks and deeper interoperability with other blockchains. It will also host Agentic., a two-day summit in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 21–22 focused on tokenization, market structure and capital flows.

Mantra’s MultiVM upgrade unifies native EVM and CosmWasm under an architecture with compliance built into the protocol designed for RWA use cases.

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