Sonic (S) is an EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain and the direct successor to Fantom, and S is its native token for gas, staking and governance. Fantom holders swapped FTM for S at a fixed 1:1 rate when Sonic's mainnet went live in December 2024, so the two coins share one history and one community. The chain was built for speed, with sub-second finality and a fee model that pays app developers a share of the gas their users spend.
That pitch carried Sonic to a $1.14 billion peak in total value locked in May 2025. The following eighteen months were harder: by October 2026 the chain had new management, a cancelled minting program and a far smaller DeFi footprint. This guide covers what Sonic is, how it works, what S does and what has changed.
From Fantom to Sonic
Fantom launched its Opera mainnet in 2019 and became one of the busier DeFi chains of the 2021 cycle, partly thanks to its association with Andre Cronje, the builder behind Yearn. By 2023 the network was losing ground to faster chains, and the team chose a rebuild over an upgrade. Sonic shipped as a separate chain with a new virtual machine, a new database layer and a new token, and FTM holders were invited to move across.
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Dec 18, 2024 | Sonic mainnet launches; two-way FTM/S swap opens at 1:1 |
| Jan 4, 2025 | S sets its all-time high near $1.03 |
| Mar 31, 2025 | Swap becomes one-way (FTM to S only) |
| May 11, 2025 | Sonic DeFi TVL peaks at about $1.14 billion |
| Mar 9, 2026 | USSD, Sonic's native stablecoin, launches |
| Jun 20, 2026 | Founding board members resign; Matt Visser becomes CEO |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Fantom Opera shutdown date relayed to users by wallet providers |
| Sep 22, 2026 | Sonic V2.2 network upgrade goes live |
The official Fantom migration documentation describes the swap mechanics, and the upgrade portal at my.soniclabs.com/upgrade remained the route for anyone still holding legacy FTM.
How Does Sonic Work?
Sonic keeps the developer experience of Ethereum, so Solidity and Vyper contracts deploy without rewrites and familiar wallets connect with a custom network entry (chain ID 146). Underneath, three pieces do the heavy lifting.
The execution and storage engine
SonicVM and SonicDB replace the Opera-era stack. Sonic Labs quotes throughput of up to 400,000 transactions per second in its documentation, with blocks reaching finality in under a second. Treat the throughput figure as a ceiling measured in testing, since real usage has never come close to stressing it. The September 2026 V2.2 upgrade added bundled transactions, broader transaction sponsorship (apps paying gas on a user's behalf), larger smart contract size limits and a new execution engine.
The Sonic Gateway
The Gateway is Sonic's native bridge to Ethereum. Its distinguishing feature is a fail-safe: if the bridge stops operating for an extended period, users can recover bridged assets on Ethereum instead of waiting for the operators to fix it. That design responds directly to the long record of crypto bridge hacks that have drained cross-chain protocols.
Fee Monetization (FeeM)
FeeM routes part of every transaction fee to the developer of the app that generated it. The Sonic documentation puts the builder share at up to 90%, with validators taking a fixed 10%. A tokenomics update announced in November 2025 made the builder share tiered (15% to 90% based on usage) and sends whatever is left over to be burned.
What the S Token Does
S is a utility and security token. Every action on the network touches it in some way:
- Gas. All transaction fees are paid in S, and FeeM decides how those fees are split.
- Staking. Validators lock at least 500,000 S of self-stake, and holders delegate S to validators to earn a share of block rewards.
- Governance. S holders vote on protocol changes, including fee and emission parameters.
- Liquid staking collateral. Tokens such as stS and OS represent staked S and circulate in DeFi, the same model described in our liquid staking explainer.
As of October 2026, CoinGecko lists about 3.885 billion S in circulation, a price near $0.038 and a market capitalization of roughly $149 million, ranking S around #220. That is about 96% below the January 2025 peak, and the all-time low of about $0.019 was set as recently as June 25, 2026.
Sonic in 2026: New Management and No New Mints
The biggest change to Sonic this year happened off-chain. On June 20, 2026, founding board members Andre Cronje, Michael Kong and David Richardson resigned, and Matt Visser took over as CEO with Kosta Kourkoumelis as COO. Days later Sonic Labs confirmed it had skipped the scheduled annual ecosystem mint of 47.6 million S, and the token rose about 18% on the news.
Visser's "Day 100" letter on September 21, 2026 went further. All manual S mints are cancelled, leaving the automated emission that pays validators as the only source of new tokens, and an independent third-party audit of S supply and its reporting is underway. The letter also says buybacks, burns and fee sharing should only follow real revenue. Strategy now centres on four commercial verticals: payments and FX rails (built around USSD and native USDC), AI tooling, tokenisation of real-world assets, and prediction-market infrastructure. Sonic Labs also stated it will not endorse or provide liquidity to memecoins.
Two smaller supply events matter for holders. About 32.69 million unclaimed S from the first two airdrop seasons is scheduled to be burned after October 15, 2026, and the Fantom Opera chain itself was wound down, removing any lingering two-chain confusion.
Sonic's Strengths and Weak Spots
On paper, Sonic competes with fast chains like Solana while offering Ethereum compatibility, which lowers the cost of porting existing apps. Blue-chip DeFi did arrive: Aave deployed on Sonic in 2025, alongside native DEXs and liquid staking protocols. FeeM is still one of the more developer-friendly fee models in crypto.
The weak spots are just as visible. DefiLlama shows Sonic TVL at roughly $17 million in October 2026, under 2% of its May 2025 peak, which means thin on-chain liquidity and limited fee revenue. Validator rewards still depend on new issuance until a replacement is found, and the supply audit has not yet been published. A leadership change this large also resets execution risk: the new team's plans are credible on paper, and the track record starts now.
For traders, that combination makes S a high-volatility, sentiment-driven asset. Anyone trading it with leverage should size positions conservatively and understand the mechanics covered in our guide to crypto leverage trading.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sonic the same as Fantom?
Sonic is Fantom's successor chain, built by the same organization (Fantom Foundation rebranded to Sonic Labs). FTM converted to S at a 1:1 rate, but Sonic runs on a new chain with new technology, and the old Opera network was wound down in 2026.
Is Sonic (S) the same as Sonic SVM?
No. Sonic SVM is an unrelated gaming-focused project on Solana with its own SONIC ticker. The ex-Fantom chain trades under the ticker S, so check the ticker and contract before buying.
Can I still swap FTM for S?
Yes, FTM holders can upgrade through the official portal at my.soniclabs.com/upgrade at the same 1:1 rate. Use only the official address, because fake migration sites have targeted FTM holders.
Is S inflationary?
S has no maximum supply, but net issuance has slowed sharply. Manual mints were cancelled in September 2026, so the only new S comes from validator emissions, and an unclaimed airdrop burn plus FeeM burns offset part of that.
Who runs Sonic now?
Matt Visser has been CEO of Sonic Labs since June 20, 2026, with Kosta Kourkoumelis as COO. Andre Cronje, Michael Kong and David Richardson left the board on the same day.
Sonic's Second Act
Sonic has the pieces a modern layer-1 needs: fast finality, EVM compatibility, a bridge with an exit hatch and a fee model that rewards builders. What it lacks right now is usage, and the 2026 reset under new leadership is a bet that payments, stablecoins and licensed technology can bring that usage back. The published supply audit and any move to end validator inflation are the two milestones worth watching.
You can buy S on the LeveX spot market or trade S perpetual futures with long or short exposure. More project explainers are waiting in Crypto in a Minute.