MANTRA Chain v8.0.0 — ICS Provider Module for Support of L2 Chains with Enhanced EVM Stability

MANTRA CHAIN v8.0.0 Proposal

This upgrade focuses on the REMOVAL of the oracle and marketmap extension modules — This is a chain stability improvement as part of the broader v8 release. The oracle module (powered by Skip/Connect) previously injected a special vote extension transaction as the first transaction in every block. This tx was not a standard user transaction — it could not be decoded by block explorers or standard tooling the way normal transactions can. After this upgrade, this injected oracle tx will no longer exist. Blocks will only contain standard, fully decodable transactions.

Release Details: https://github.com/MANTRA-Chain/mantrachain/releases/tag/v8.0.0

Overall v8 Summary

This proposal triggers the MANTRA Chain v8.0.0 software upgrade. The upgrade introduces Interchain Security (ICS) provider support via the ccv-provider module, delivers a series of EVM and blacklist enforcement fixes accumulated across four release candidates, removes the oracle and marketmap modules, and removes the precisebank store from state.

Motivation

Following the v7.0.0 redenomination, v8.0.0 positions MANTRA Chain for ICS provider participation, enabling it to share economic security with consumer chains. The release also resolves several EVM correctness issues identified during the v7 cycle — including a race condition in gRPC query handling, improper rejection of malformed transactions under the EVM mempool, and gaps in blacklist grant revocation — removes the oracle and marketmap modules that are no longer needed, and cleans up the precisebank store now that the redenomination migration is complete.

What Changed

Technical Module Changes

All balances, parameters, and rewards are migrated automatically at the 1:4 × 10¹² ratio. No manual action is required from token holders, stakers, or delegators.

• ICS / CCV: ccv-provider module registered in the upgrade handler, enabling MANTRA to provide shared security to opted-in consumer chains.
• EVM: Multiple correctness fixes backported from upstream; DistributionClaim precompile transfer restrictions enforced at the module level.
• Feegrant / Authz: Revocation logic extended to cover the granter side of allowances when an account is blacklisted.
• Oracle / Marketmap: Both modules removed from the chain, simplifying the module set and reducing maintenance surface.
• Query Handlers: Nil request validation added across query handlers to prevent panics from malformed requests.
• PreciseBank: Store fully removed; state cleanup executes automatically at upgrade height.

Upgrade Mechanics

• At the upgrade block height, the chain halts, v8 applies, and the precisebank store removal executes as a state migration.
• Upgrade handler: https://github.com/MANTRA-Chain/mantrachain/blob/v8.0.0/app/upgrades/v8/upgrades.go
• Cosmovisor: Validators using Cosmovisor can configure automatic binary substitution via the published cosmovisor.json. Pre-built binaries with SHA-256 checksums are available for linux/amd64, linux/arm64, darwin/amd64, and darwin/arm64:

  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MANTRA-Chain/net/refs/heads/main/mantra-1/upgrades/v8.0.0/cosmovisor.json

RC Changelog