# What is Sonic Chain? Fantom's Successor Powering High-Speed DeFi

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**Publisher:** Decentralized Finance Publication (https://decentralized-finance.io)
**Author:** Kaiser Khan
**Reviewed by:** Kaiser Khan, Editor in Chief
**Category:** DeFi Ecosystems
**Updated:** May 2026
**Trust:** Independent, ad-free editorial research. No display advertisements, no paid protocol coverage, no affiliate-driven rankings.

## Summary

Sonic Chain (formerly Fantom, rebranded and relaunched in late 2024) is an EVM-compatible L1 blockchain focused on high-speed, low-cost DeFi. Sonic achieves 10,000 TPS with sub-second finality via the Sonic consensus mechanism, a redesigned version of Fantom's DAG-based Lachesis protocol. The S token (formerly FTM) is the native gas and staking token. Sonic's 'Fee Monetisation' program shares 90% of gas fees with qualifying dApp developers — a novel mechanism to attract and retain builders.

Sonic represents the culmination of Fantom Foundation's years of research into high-performance blockchain design. The rebrand from Fantom to Sonic in late 2024 was accompanied by a major technical upgrade — the Sonic consensus mechanism, a database redesign that reduced storage requirements by 90%, and a novel developer incentive program.

Fantom was historically known for its technical performance but struggled with developer retention and ecosystem fragmentation. Sonic's launch attempted to address these issues directly with the Fee Monetisation program and a focused rebranding effort.

## Sonic's key technical features

- Sonic consensus: Custom DAG-based consensus (successor to Lachesis) achieving 10,000 TPS and under 1 second to finality
- Database redesign: 90% reduction in storage requirements vs Fantom, enabling faster node sync and lower infrastructure costs for validators
- EVM compatibility: Full EVM equivalence — any Ethereum smart contract or DeFi protocol can be deployed on Sonic without modification
- Sonic Gateway: A bridge to Ethereum mainnet with fraud-proof based security for cross-chain asset transfers

## Fee Monetisation — A new builder incentive model

Sonic's most distinctive innovation is its Fee Monetisation (FeeM) program. Qualifying dApps (those that meet activity thresholds) receive up to 90% of the gas fees generated by user transactions on their smart contracts — paid directly to the developer's address.

This inverts the typical blockchain model where gas fees flow to validators and protocol treasuries. On Sonic, active dApps can generate substantial revenue from user activity, creating a direct financial incentive to build and maintain quality applications on the chain.

## Sonic's DeFi ecosystem

- SpookySwap: The legacy Fantom DEX that migrated to Sonic, offering AMM trading and liquidity provision
- Equalizer: A Velodrome-inspired ve(3,3) DEX on Sonic providing liquidity incentives
- Silo Finance: Lending protocol with isolated markets for safer borrowing against long-tail assets
- Beets: A Balancer fork offering weighted multi-asset pools
- Shadow DEX: Newer concentrated liquidity exchange with active volume

## S token (formerly FTM)

FTM holders migrated their tokens to S (the new Sonic native token) at a 1:1 ratio during the transition period. S serves as the gas token and staking token for Sonic's validator set. The token distribution and staking economics were updated with the Sonic launch to better align with the new chain's parameters.

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