Market value is close to the previous high. In-depth analysis of the fundamental factors of Sonic’s counter-trend rise

Introduction: At the beginning of 2025, the optimistic sentiment of the US stock market pushed the S&P 500 to a new high, while the crypto market was under pressure and sluggish, and meme coins fluctuated violently. Against this background, Sonic ($S) stood out with its price increase and technological upgrades and became the focus of the market. This article will analyze its performance and potential.

This Monday was Presidents’ Day, and the U.S. stock market was closed. After the opening of Tuesday, the overall market sentiment was optimistic, with the S&P 500 index rising 0.24%, setting a new record high, and the Nasdaq Composite Index also rose slightly by 0.07%.

In contrast to the strong performance of the U.S. stock market, the cryptocurrency market came under pressure and pulled back.

Recently, the entire cryptocurrency market has continued to experience a round of downward fluctuations, and the overall market sentiment seems to be sluggish, with trading volume and investor confidence being impacted to a certain extent. At the same time, the meme coin market is like a roller coaster, with prices jumping up and down, and the volatility is staggering. Many investors feel at a loss in such uncertainty. However, in such a weak and uncertain market environment, the S token has emerged as a dark horse, showing an impressive growth momentum. Not only has the price performance been stable, but the activity and support of the community behind it have also added a lot of highlights to this token. Compared with the ups and downs of other tokens, the outstanding performance of S has undoubtedly injected a bit of vitality into the current sluggish crypto market and has become one of the focuses of investors’ attention.

1. $S price is brewing to rise, with great potential

Sonic is an EVM layer 1 blockchain platform evolved from Fantom, focusing on providing high performance and scalability for decentralized applications. The platform supports the native token $S for transaction fees, staking, governance, and running validators. After the new network is launched, users holding old FTM tokens will be able to convert them to $S at a 1:1 ratio.

Key features:

High Performance: With the ability to process over 10,000 transactions per second with sub-second completion times, Sonic is suitable for high-demand applications in various fields such as gaming and finance.

Interoperability: The platform emphasizes seamless interaction between different blockchains.

Developer Incentives: Sonic Labs plans to implement various incentive programs to attract developers and promote innovation within its ecosystem.

2. Fantom upgrades to Sonic, with comprehensive optimization of fundamentals

Three aspects of upgrade

-Fantom Virtual Machine (FVM)

-Storage system (DataBase)

-Bridge (Sonic Gateway)

1) On-chain internal optimization:

• Blockchain scalability challenges: Existing blockchains have a trade-off between decentralization, security, and scalability. Fantom plans to achieve a balance among the three.

• Bottleneck analysis (Aida project): After testing 40 million blocks, it was found that EVM only accounted for 13% of the processing time, while StateDB accounted for 84%, and the storage system was the main bottleneck.

• Storage upgrade (Carmen project): The existing Merkle Patricia Trie (MPT) solution has performance bottlenecks, and Fantom uses a new file-based StateDB to optimize storage efficiency.

• Fantom Virtual Machine Upgrade (Tosca Project): FVM replaces EVM, supports Solidity and Vyper compatibility, and uses “super instructions” to improve execution efficiency.

Test results:

• The FVM solution increases transaction speed by 8.1 times, reduces storage usage by 98%, and significantly optimizes network performance.

• Fantom further enhances on-chain scalability by upgrading storage and virtual machine systems, improving transaction processing capabilities and reducing node operating costs.

2) Off-chain optimization:

Sonic Gateway is a decentralized cross-chain bridge designed to connect Ethereum and the Sonic network, aiming to improve interoperability while eliminating users’ custody risks.

Sonic Gateway core features:

• Allows secure transfer of ERC-20 assets between Ethereum and Sonic.

• It takes about 10 minutes to transfer Ethereum to Sonic, and about 1 hour to transfer from Sonic back to Ethereum.

Safety mechanism:

• Built-in failsafe mechanism: If the gateway is unavailable for 14 consecutive days, users can retrieve their assets on Ethereum.

• The gateway status is monitored through the inter-chain “heartbeat” signal to ensure the security of user funds.

Compared with the Layer-2 solution:

• Sonic provides a faster transfer experience, does not require a challenge period, and has instant finality, which is better than the Optimistic Rollup solution that usually requires a 7-day challenge period.

User benefits:

• Allow users to access native assets (such as BTC, ETH, SOL) in Sonic without relying on wrapped assets.

Different from Layer-2 operation mode:

Efficient data storage:

3. TVL on Sonic Chain Soars, Ecosystem Growth Accelerates

According to the latest data from the DefiLlama platform, Sonic currently ranks 16th in the total value locked (TVL) ranking of various blockchains, showing its strong performance in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. More notably, Sonic’s TVL growth in the past month has reached an astonishing 180%, a growth rate that indicates a significant increase in market confidence in the platform and capital inflows. In addition, compared with the TVL level in December last year, Sonic’s total value locked has nearly tripled, a performance that highlights its accelerated expansion in the DeFi field and investors’ optimistic expectations for its future prospects. Such growth not only reflects the driving force of the platform’s own development, but also shows the continued inflow of market funds into the Sonic ecosystem, further consolidating its competitive position in the industry.

4. Sonic’s on-chain data is active and price support is stable

According to the transaction volume data provided by SonicSca:

The highest transaction volume on the Sonic chain occurred on January 13, 2025, reaching 975,252 transactions. The transaction volume began to grow significantly after December 16, followed by a volatile growth; after reaching a peak on January 13, the transaction volume declined, but remained at a relatively high level; in early February, the transaction volume rebounded slightly, the market activity increased, and it returned to the growth track, which is worth paying attention to the subsequent development; similar conclusions can be drawn from the Gas usage chart. The Sonic network experienced an active growth period from December to January, reaching a peak in Gas usage in mid-January. Since February, although Gas usage has fluctuated, it has remained at a relatively high level, indicating that the network is still active.

Despite the substantial growth in TVL and the robust performance of on-chain data, the price of $S has been suppressed by the moving average since its launch at the beginning of the year, failing to fully reflect the impact of improved fundamentals. It was not until February 8 that the price ended its downward trend and began to rise. However, the current price is still far below its historical high. If $S can maintain above the $0.57 support level and steadily rise along the moving average, the subsequent trend is expected to further strengthen, with a target of around $0.72.

In summary, Sonic has shown strong momentum since its rebranding from Fantom. Its total locked value (TVL) has achieved significant growth in a short period of time, and the activity of on-chain data has increased, showing the rapid expansion of the ecosystem and the increase in user engagement. Despite this, the price of $S has not yet fully reflected these positive fundamental changes. With the increase in market attention to Sonic and its continued optimization in technology and ecology, the price of $S is expected to rise further in the future. Investors should pay close attention to market dynamics and on-chain data to seize potential upside opportunities in this fast-moving market.