Author: The DeFi Investor Source: thedefinvestor Translated by: Shan Ouba, Jinse Finance
At the end of 2021, Fantom (recently renamed Sonic) was one of the most popular L1 blockchains and a favorite destination for degens.
However, the project was hit quite hard during the bear market.
The TVL of the Fantom L1 once approached $15 billion, but has now dropped to around $153 million.
However, to revive blockchain activity, its team has been developing Sonic - the biggest upgrade in the project's history
This seems to be one of the biggest DeFi catalysts coming in Q4, so I think it will be interesting to cover it in depth in today's article.
Here is all the information you need to know about the Sonic Upgrade:
1. Network Upgrade
First, let's talk about the changes Sonic will bring on the technical side:
Higher scalability - Sonic L1 is said to be able to process 10,000 real transactions per second and complete transactions in 1 second
90% reduction in storage requirements for validators
This will be achieved through the introduction of a novel storage system and a new EVM-compatible virtual machine called the Fantom Virtual Machine.
Native bridge connecting to Ethereum
The Sonic Gateway is a trustless bridge that can transfer from Ethereum to Sonic L1 in up to 10 minutes, and from Sonic to Ethereum in up to 1 hour.
Interestingly, the Gateway will be fully decentralized and controlled by network validators, unlike most crypto bridges.
2. New Token Release
The project's current token $FTM will be converted to the $S token upon the launch of the Sonic mainnet upgrade.
Like FTM, S will be used for governance participation and gas fee payment.
But in addition, the $S token will also be used to validate its new native bridge and collect all the bridging fees it generates.
3. New Incentive/Airdrop Program
As part of the new Airdrop initiative, Sonic will distribute around $130 million to its community.
To receive these rewards, you must use certain dApps on the Sonic testnet and mainnet after launch. (Sonic mainnet is planned to launch in December)
The only way to participate currently is:
Go to airdrop.soniclabs.com
Enter a referral code (e.g. s8sjft)
Click "Sonic Arcade" and play one of the games provided on the Sonic testnet
In addition, the project has also launched Sonic Boom - a funding program that will provide a portion of the Sonic Airdrop to up to 30 winning projects.
4. Upcoming DeFi Primitives from Andre Cronje
If you've been in crypto for a while, you've probably heard of Yearn Finance and Aerodrome at least once - two of the most successful DeFi projects.
These two protocols are based on smart contract code written by Andre Cronje - a key member of the Sonic team and a very well-known web3 developer
Andre Cronje recently stated that he has 4 unreleased DeFi primitives.
He may exclusively launch them on the Sonic L1.
Given the huge success of his previous projects, the launch of these projects could bring a lot of attention to the Sonic ecosystem.
5. Gas Monetization Program
Another interesting feature of the Sonic upgrade is the Gas Monetization (GasM) program.
The program will reward developers using a web2-like revenue sharing model:
A portion of the gas fees paid by users of dApps that apply to the GasM program will be paid to the developers of the application, rather than the validators.
The higher the success of a particular dApp, the higher this percentage will be.
Up to 90% of the gas fees will be shared with the developers of the top dApps on the network. In this way, the GasM program may encourage new developers to build their projects on Sonic.
That's all the key information you need to know about the upcoming Sonic upgrade.
In summary, I believe this is a catalyst worth watching.
Sonic (or Fantom) has a very strong community, so I expect to see a lot of discussion about this catalyst on Crypto Twitter in the coming months.
