Starting from the blockchain explorer Fantom Explorer, we will deeply analyze why it was renamed to Sonic and launched the TradFi strategy, allowing this previously overlooked chain to become the focus of the cryptocurrency world again.
Background: The Birth of Fantom and the Explorer Tool
The Fantom network was launched by the Fantom Foundation in 2018, utilizing the DAG + Lachesis consensus mechanism. It features high performance, low fees, and EVM compatibility, making it a chain that many developers and DeFi protocols laid out early on.
Meanwhile, Fantom Explorer, as the official browser, has the responsibility of allowing users to view transactions, blocks, contracts, and token activities, making it an important component of on-chain transparency and traceability.
Numerous applications have also emerged in the ecosystem, such as DEX, NFT platforms, lending protocols, etc., gradually forming a prosperous foundation.
Sonic Reimagined: Why “Fantom → Sonic”?
As competition in the blockchain space intensifies, Fantom has decided to carry out a strategic upgrade: establishing Sonic Labs, launching a brand new Sonic chain, and planning to replace FTM with the new token S.
The Sonic mainnet was officially launched in December 2024, supporting approximately 10,000 TPS, with extremely low latency while maintaining EVM compatibility, and strengthening the bridging mechanism with Ethereum.
The old token FTM will be upgraded to S at a 1:1 ratio, initially allowing for two-way conversion, but later the conversion direction will be locked to one-way (FTM → S).
The essence of reconstruction is: to create a faster, more modern, and more scalable network for the long term.
Is Explorer and the on-chain tools still functioning?
For the old chain, Fantom Explorer is still a key tool for querying historical transactions, contract records, and wallet balances.
But future ecological growth will mainly occur in Sonic, with new tools, new applications, and new tokens gradually migrating. Developers should prioritize following the Sonic series of tools when deploying new products.
The old ecosystem’s NFT browser and data tools once served Fantom, but as the ecosystem migrates, their importance will decline in the future.
Sonic New Economic Model and TradFi Expansion Plan
The new economic model launched by Sonic Labs includes:
- Multiple destruction models
- Airdrop rewards to incentivize ecological users
- Inflation / Issuance structure more conducive to long-term growth
What brings Sonic back into the spotlight is its large-scale TradFi expansion plan that will be implemented in 2025:
- Plan to issue ETF
- Create investment tools that can be listed in traditional markets.
- Establishing the US entity Sonic USA
- Expand cooperation with banks, brokers, and institutions
With a scale of up to several hundred million dollars, it is one of the few projects that actively integrates the underlying blockchain with traditional finance.
This means that in the future, Sonic will not only be the infrastructure for Web3 projects, but may also become: “a high-speed public chain connecting crypto and Wall Street.”
Insights for Investors / Users / Developers
Users / Holders
- You must follow the conversion from FTM to S, do not miss the migration deadline.
- Sonic will become the main ecosystem, and the old chain will gradually be “frozen as a historical chain.”
Developer / Project Party
- Sonic is more suitable for long-term layout of new protocols, new tools, new games, and new DeFi products.
- The institutional participation brought by the TradFi proposal will give the project the opportunity to gain more follow and funding.
investor
- Sonic’s institutional route may drive its long-term value growth.
- The economic model of the new token S is more strategic than the old FTM and can be considered a key asset to follow.
summary
From Fantom Explorer to Sonic Chain, we have witnessed the evolution of a public chain from “performance competition” to “cross-financial field expansion.”
If Fantom represents the high-speed public chain of the previous era, then Sonic represents the future: faster, stronger, more compliant, and with greater institutional-level potential.
Now is probably the best time to follow Sonic again, as it is likely to seize the next round of growth.
* The information is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice or any other recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by Gate.
