UPDATED: Mar 26, 2024 3:27 AM EDT
Michael Kong, CEO of the Fantom Foundation, stated that the project is gearing up to introduce the next iteration, Sonic.
Sonic promises to process 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) with sub-second finality and is expected to launch in late summer or early fall of this year, according to Kong.
It is being developed as the next step after the existing Opera version of Fantom that can facilitate 200 transactions per second. Sonic’s rollout includes plans to enhance DeFi operations on Fantom through support for liquid staking tokens and the expansion of grant programs to fund development.
The team also plans to use Sonic as a “shared sequencer” for other Layer 1 and Layer 2 chains – Kong noted. A shared sequencer is a batch or protocol that produces blocks for multiple rollups simultaneously. They are essentially a collection of sequencers that can be used by multiple rollups. Other examples of shared sequencers in development are Espresso, Astria and FairBlock. Last year the project took notice explore adding optimistic rollups to connect to Ethereum.
“Sonic will be used to create a new best-in-class shared sequencer for L1 and L2 chains, capable of processing over 180 million daily transactions with true sub-second confirmation times, and will serve as the foundation to relaunch Fantom as an entirely new community-focused brand,” Kong said.
Fantom is developing a new bridge
The launch of Sonic will be accompanied by proposed changes to governance, including new staking mechanisms and a more decentralized and secure bridging solution that will allow users to bridge funds from Ethereum. “We have developed a Sonic rollup implementation, a first-class citizen in our validator set, to fully decentralize the bridge while using our existing network security and inheriting the economic security of Ethereum,” Kong added.
With the rollout of Sonic, a new bridge will be a critical infrastructure component for the foundation, especially after last year’s hack on a cross-chain bridge with Ethereum called Multichain. The foundation lost a third of the total $210 million taken during the July 2023 heist.
