Sonic (S): how it works, supply and reviews
In short
- Type
- EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain; a fresh chain with no history from Fantom Opera
- Migration
- FTM upgrades to S at 1:1; two-way swap for the first 90 days, then FTM to S only
- Risks and caveats
- Supply is not fixed: ecosystem, airdrop and institutional issuance add S, and new block-reward issuance of 1.75% a year starts after four years.
- Checked
- 31 October 2026
Visitor ratings: do you like Sonic?
Key facts
- Ticker
- S
- Official site
- soniclabs.com
Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.
What is Sonic
Sonic is an EVM-compatible proof-of-stake layer-1 blockchain launched on 18 December 2024 by Sonic Labs as the successor to Fantom Opera. FTM holders can upgrade to the native S token at 1:1. S pays fees, is staked by validators and is used in governance.
Network and consensus
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain; a fresh chain with no history from Fantom Opera |
| Consensus | Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance with directed acyclic graphs, secured by proof of stake |
| Validators | At least 500,000 S must be locked to run a validator |
| Performance | 400,000 TPS and sub-second finality, per the project |
| Smart contracts | Full EVM compatibility; Chain ID 146 |
| Launched | 18 December 2024 |
Supply and issuance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Migration | FTM upgrades to S at 1:1; two-way swap for the first 90 days, then FTM to S only |
| Issuance | 47,625,000 S a year for six years for ecosystem growth; unused amounts are burned |
| Airdrop | 190.5 million S issued in phases for the airdrop, with a burn for early claims |
| Institutional issuance | 472,372,662.8 S issued on 4 September 2025 after a governance vote, for a Nasdaq DAT and Sonic USA |
| Staking rewards | Target 3.5% APR at 50% staked; first four years funded by block rewards moved from Opera, then 1.75% a year new issuance |
What S is used for
- Paying transaction fees
- Staking and delegation (14-day withdrawal period)
- Running validators
- Governance
Who develops and governs Sonic
- Company
- Sonic Labs develops the network (copyright holder of the docs)
- Leadership
- In June 2026 Michael Kong, Andre Cronje and David Richardson resigned from the Sonic Labs board; Matt Visser became CEO
- Governance
- Token issuance decisions go through governance votes (e.g. the 2025 institutional issuance)
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 18 December 2024 | Sonic mainnet launches with the S token; FTM can be upgraded 1:1. |
| — | The two-way FTM/S swap ends after 90 days; upgrades become one-way from FTM to S. |
| 4 September 2025 | 472,372,662.8 S issued for institutional expansion after a governance vote. |
| 19 June 2026 | Board changes at Sonic Labs: three directors step down and a new CEO and COO are named. |
| 23 June 2026 | Sonic Labs says Fantom Opera will stay live until at least the end of 2026. |
Security and audits
- The Sonic Gateway bridge was audited by OpenZeppelin, Quantstamp and Certora; the FTM-to-S bridge by OpenZeppelin; the staking contract (SFC) by Quantstamp.
- Delegators can be affected if their validator is penalised for misconduct.
Security incidents
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 25 February 2021 | Network halt: Fantom Opera mainnet stopped confirming new blocks; validators restarted the network within about 7 hours. | blog.fantom.foundation |
| July 2023 | Bridge exploit: The Multichain bridge exploit drained over USD 210 million across chains; the Fantom Foundation says about one third of the losses hit the Fantom ecosystem. The bridge was run by the separate Multichain Foundation, not by Fantom. Funds returned: The Fantom Foundation obtained a default judgment against the Multichain Foundation in Singapore (post of 4 March 2024) and a damages judgment (post of 8 July 2024); recovery is not stated. | blog.fantom.foundation |
| 8 July 2024 | Legal follow-up: The High Court of Singapore delivered its damages judgment against the Multichain Foundation after a hearing on 3 June 2024 (Fantom Foundation's post). | blog.fantom.foundation |
Further incidents are reported by third parties (press, incident databases) but are not confirmed in the company’s own channels, so they are not listed here.
Risks and caveats
- Supply is not fixed: ecosystem, airdrop and institutional issuance add S, and new block-reward issuance of 1.75% a year starts after four years.
- Sonic Labs changed its board and leadership in June 2026 and says it is working to rebuild trust.
- Validators need at least 500,000 S, so most holders delegate.
Official links
- Website: www.soniclabs.com
- Docs: docs.soniclabs.com
- Migration: docs.soniclabs.com/migration/overview.md
- Source code: github.com/0xsoniclabs
- Block explorer: sonicscan.org
- Blog: blog.soniclabs.com
Questions and answers
What is Sonic?
Sonic is an EVM-compatible proof-of-stake layer-1 blockchain launched on 18 December 2024 as the successor to Fantom Opera. Its native token is S.
Is Fantom now Sonic?
Sonic is a new chain that replaces Fantom Opera as the focus of development; FTM can be upgraded to S at 1:1. Fantom Opera stays live until at least the end of 2026.
How do I convert FTM to S?
Use the official upgrade portal on MySonic. After the first 90 days the upgrade is one-way, from FTM to S.
Who runs Sonic?
Sonic Labs. In June 2026 its board changed and Matt Visser became CEO.
Sources
- Sonic Docs — Introduction
- Sonic Docs — S token
- Sonic Docs — Migration overview
- Sonic Docs — Migration FAQ
- Sonic Docs — Consensus
- Sonic Docs — Proof of Stake
- Sonic Docs — Audits
- Sonic Labs — Upgrade handbook FTM to S (31 December 2024)
- Sonic Labs — Leadership update (19 June 2026)
- Sonic Labs — The First 1% (23 June 2026)
More in this section
- Curve Finance (CRV)
- Osmosis (OSMO)
- MultiversX (EGLD)
- Flare Network (FLR)
- Ronin (RON)
- Fetch.ai (FET)
- All Crypto projects →
How voting works
Votes are anonymous and carry no text. Each device has one vote per item; press the same button again to remove it. Cloudflare Turnstile checks that a person is voting. We keep a random device ID in a cookie and a salted hash of the IP address to limit abuse — no names, no accounts. Votes are visitors’ opinions, not investment advice.
Page updated: