Fantom Foundation Pledges $120M to Accelerate Project Migrations to Sonic
The Fantom Foundation, the driving force behind the Fantom decentralized network, has committed to support the launch of Sonic, a new and faster network.
In an announcement on June 20, the Fantom Foundation revealed its plan to allocate up to 200 million of its native Fantom tokens, amounting to approximately $120 million, from its treasury to facilitate the transition of projects to the Sonic network.
The pledged funds will be utilized to identify and secure partnerships with top-tier developers and companies capable of contributing to the growth and development of the Sonic network.
This includes developers working on applications directly on the Fantom platform, developers focused on decentralized applications (DApps), as well as partners providing essential tools and services.
Notably, the funds will be derived from smart financial strategies implemented by Fantom network creator Andre Cronje, without any increase in the total token supply.
Sonic to Introduce New L1 Solution
Initially, the allocated funds will be directed towards strategic grants for existing applications within the Fantom ecosystem, with priority given to those that have demonstrated a strong interest in leveraging the Sonic technology.
The move follows the establishment of the Sonic Foundation, a newly formed entity responsible for overseeing Sonic’s governance, managing the network treasury, fostering partnerships, and nurturing the DApp ecosystem.
According to Fantom Foundation CEO Michael Kong and the development team, Sonic will introduce a new layer-1 solution alongside a built-in layer 2 that facilitates seamless integration with the Ethereum network, bridging the gap between the two EVM-compatible networks.
Through the architecture of the Sonic Chain, users on the upcoming Sonic network will have access to Ethereum’s extensive ecosystem of decentralized applications, liquidity providers, and community.
💸 Announcing: Sonic Labs Innovator Fund
We're committing up to 200,000,000 FTM to accelerate partner migration for the #Sonic launch!
🤝 The fund complements our 100M+ $S airdrop and will attract an influx of innovative dApps to Sonic.
Learn more 👇https://t.co/KnFJMm8DDr pic.twitter.com/zihVJWBw3Q
— Fantom Foundation (@FantomFDN) June 20, 2024
The commitment to support project migrations to Sonic is not the first instance of the Fantom Foundation providing incentives.
In May, the Fantom network set aside $6.5 million worth of its native tokens to incentivize developers, emphasizing the concept of “safer memecoins.”
Additionally, in May 2023, the Fantom Opera network launched the “Gas Monetization Program,” which compensates eligible developers with 15% of the total gas fees generated by their applications.
Fantom Reduces Validator Requirement
Earlier this year, Fantom Network announced a 90% reduction in validator requirements, taking the assets needed to run a self-staking node to 50,000 FTM from 500,000 FTM.
The move made it more accessible to run a Fantom node as the company stresses decentralization and the positive impact it would have on the overall network.
Per the statement, the platform is positioning itself for the future of decentralized networks without a few validators controlling what happens on the system.
In recent times, decentralized applications and blockchains have been criticized for not living up to the ideals of decentralized finance (DeFi).
A major reason for this is the cost of staking and becoming a validator placing the bulk of nodes in the the hands of centralized players.
