Sonic Labs today announced the launch of the Sonic mainnet, an EVM-compatible first-layer blockchain platform that offers attractive incentives and robust infrastructure for developers.
The Sonic mainnet supports 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), sub-second finality, and provides a native decentralized Ethereum gateway, enabling developers to build next-generation applications on unparalleled infrastructure and liquidity.
Sonic is developed by the Fantom team, and its S token significantly outperforms Fantom and FTM in multiple ways. Through a 1:1 upgrade process from FTM to S, existing FTM holders can seamlessly start using Sonic.
Sonic establishes itself as a DeFi hub through a revolutionary developer incentive mechanism, while providing users with a seamless experience and rich liquidity.
Fee Monetization: Developer Priority
Fee Monetization on Sonic (FeeM) rewards developers up to 90% of the network fees generated by their applications, adopting a strategy similar to the popular Web2 advertising revenue model used by platforms like YouTube. While many blockchains offer limited developer incentives and focus primarily on value extraction, Sonic effectively addresses this issue through its FeeM model.
"Recently, we have seen the launch of many new chains, especially centralized second-layer chains, where founders pocket all network fees. This excludes developers and forces them to charge users extra fees to generate revenue. FeeM addresses this issue by directly encoding developer rewards into the chain, ensuring that network fees are shared with developers from the start." — Sam Harcourt, Head of Business Development at Sonic Labs
Developers on the Sonic chain will receive a share of network fees based on the traffic and engagement their applications attract, providing a built-in mechanism for ongoing revenue.
From Fantom to Sonic: Upgrading FTM to S
Fantom and its FTM token officially transition to Sonic and the S token. Sonic Labs assists FTM holders in seamlessly upgrading FTM to S at a 1:1 ratio through a dedicated upgrade portal on MySonic.
"We are proud to launch the new Sonic chain as the next evolution of Fantom, based on an exceptional track record of nearly 100% uptime since 2019. Sonic is a revolutionary platform that prioritizes developers, enabling them to create applications with seamless user experiences while earning a share of network fees." — Michael Kong, CEO of Sonic Labs
In the first 90 days after the launch of the Sonic mainnet, holders can freely swap between FTM and S through the upgrade portal. After that, holders will only be able to upgrade FTM to S.
Sonic Gateway: Secure, Decentralized Interoperability
As cross-chain activity increases, secure and trustless bridges become more important than ever. Traditional first-layer and second-layer bridging solutions typically rely on centralized systems, facing the risk of potential losses worth billions of dollars.
The Sonic gateway serves as a decentralized and trustless bridge between Ethereum and Sonic, addressing these challenges and providing:
Security: If the gateway fails within 14 days, the fail-safe mechanism ensures that user funds can be recovered on Ethereum, guaranteeing the safety of assets.
Speed: Asset transfers are efficiently batched (every 10 minutes from Ethereum to Sonic, hourly reverse transfer). The fast lane feature allows users to pay a small fee for immediate bridging.
Decentralization: Operated by Sonic validators on both chains, the gateway is as decentralized as Sonic itself, preventing centralized manipulation.
"To enable users to effectively and trustlessly control their assets, we developed the Sonic gateway to provide liquidity from other platforms. Supported by our own validators and secured by fail-safe mechanisms, the gateway allows users and applications to safely leverage the benefits and incentives of introducing new liquidity into Sonic." — Bernhard Scholz, Chief Research Officer at Sonic Labs
Sonic Labs will expand the gateway beyond Ethereum in the future, allowing direct, decentralized access to native assets across multiple blockchains.
Sonic Airdrop: Distributing S tokens
To encourage network growth, Sonic Labs distributes 190.5 million S tokens through an airdrop program targeted at users and developers. The program includes two incentive structures:
Sonic Points: Rewarding end users for early adoption, asset holding, and overall participation.
Sonic Gems: Rewarding developers for creating applications that drive user activity and innovation. Developers can convert gems to S and share tokens with their users to incentivize continued usage.
About Sonic
Sonic is an EVM-first layer platform that offers attractive incentives and strong infrastructure for developers. The chain provides over 10,000 TPS, sub-second confirmation times, and a secure Ethereum gateway to enhance liquidity and asset security.
For more information, users can visit Sonic's official website and follow Sonic's Twitter.
