Sonic Labs plan for Q4 mainnet has a focus on speed, months after its Fantom rebrand

Welcome back to the Talking Tokens newsletter.

Are you at Token2049? I couldn’t make it, but if you’re there, reply to this email and let us know how it’s going and maybe we’ll include it in our next edition 👀

And if you haven’t already, subscribe here.

Sonic blockchain wants to get even faster ahead of its mainnet launch

In the crypto world, there’s a fairly new blockchain called Sonic — not to be confused with the animated hedgehog or American fast food joint — that wants to become the best place for developers and builders alike looking for speed.

Sonic was formerly known as Fantom, but rebranded in March and is relaunching in hopes a fresh start, its CEO and CIO Michael Kong said on Talking Tokens podcast.

(Listen in to the episode on Spotify, Apple or YouTube.)

In the past, Fantom was known as a decentralized finance, or DeFi, focused chain, Kong said. In early March 2022, the chain had almost $8 billion in total value locked, according to DefiLlama data.

Now, Kong sees Sonic, which is in testnet phase and gearing up for mainnet at the end of this year, as an opportunity for former Fantom fanatics and new ones alike to expand beyond DeFi primitives.

Sonic is a high-throughput Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) layer-1 blockchain. In short, that means the chain is compatible with Ethereum, but transacts much faster than it.

As it stands, Sonic can complete about 10,000 transactions per second for less than a penny per transaction.

“We have quite a few plans over the next two to three years where I think we can dramatically increase the performance of this technology, even from where it is now,” Kong said.

Kong doesn’t think other people building blockchains are optimizing for time to finality (TTF), dubbed “the ultimate metric” for blockchain speed, the same way Sonic is.

At the time of our podcast recording, Sonic’s TTF was about a second, but getting it to a fraction of that would be “really good,” Kong added. Last Sunday, the chain hit record TTF at 720 millisecond, according to a post on X by Sonic Labs co-founder Andre Cronje.

Now, expanding the number of applications within its network is a major objective for the nascent chain, Kong said. “But you can only do that if you have the right technology infrastructure there.”

Check out the next section for more details and the full episode.

The latest Talking Tokens podcast 🎙️

For this week’s Tuesday episode, I sat down with Michael Kong, CEO and CIO of Sonic Labs (previously known as Fantom).

We talk about Sonic’s rebrand and upcoming chain launch, what developers want to build better products, how the team plans to bring more users onchain, its upcoming airdrop and more. 

Talking Tokens episodes are released on Spotify and Apple Podcasts at 6AM EST or YouTube at 10AM EST every Tuesday and Thursday. Listen in!

Make sure to subscribe to keep up with the latest episodes. Feel free to leave a review and tell us your thoughts.

Monitoring blockchains

Looking at some of the biggest developments onchain.

• Data compulation platform Nillion integrates with NEAR Protocol to help enhance privacy tools for developers

• Remember Flappy Bird? The once-loved game is rebooting on Telegram through the TON blockchain, but not everyone is happy about it

• More than 40 Firms Join Central Bank Group to Explore Tokenization for Cross-Border Payments (CoinDesk)

Taking on the tokens 

The total crypto market cap increased less than 1% in the past 24-hours to $2.05 trillion. It is up 2% over a 7-day period.

As for the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap…

These metrics were taken prior to publication Tuesday morning EST.

Money and people moves

Latest updates on crypto startups that secured funding and industry players who are starting something new.

1. ICYMI: Alan Curtis takes over as chief operating officer at Eigen Labs

2. Scroll Founder and Polychain GP Join Trump's World Liberty Financial as Advisors (Bankless)

3. Tether Hires PayPal Government Affairs Ace as U.S. Scrutiny Unresolved (CoinDesk)

4. Multicoin and Solana Ventures join $10 million Series A in Permissionless Labs (The Block)

5. Clayton Menzel joins Babylon Labs as head of BD

Talking points for the road 

Here’s some headlines and topics that you can talk about at your next dinner party, crypto event or on a first date to look smart (results may vary.) 

1. Bitcoin Slips at Start of Key Week for Markets Awaiting Fed Rate Cut (Bloomberg)

2. Sam Bankman-Fried Files Appeal to Overturn Fraud Conviction (NYT)

3. Why stablecoins are gaining ground in Nigeria and Turkey — and it has nothing to do with speculation (DL News)

4. English High Court Rules Tether's USDT Stablecoin Counts as Property (CoinDesk)

Get involved and share the newsletter. The more you share, the higher your ranking.

• Refer 25 people and get my customized media guide.

• Refer 50 people for a chance at a 1:1 meeting with me to dive into best practices when engaging with the media.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

If you do (or don’t) like what you see, let me know by sending feedback to [email protected].

This product was built by Token Relations. 

Please note that this content is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Any views shared should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research. We may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this newsletter.