What Do We Know About Fantom’s Sonic Migration?

Fantom’s Sonic Migration Could be the Next Step for Next Gen DeFi

Fantom’s forthcoming Sonic upgrade represents a major leap forward in the network’s performance and capabilities. Unlike the current Opera version, Sonic introduces new technological improvements designed to address limitations in transaction speed, finality, and storage efficiency. At its core, Sonic replaces Opera’s underlying framework with a new Fantom Virtual Machine (FVM), an optimised Lachesis consensus mechanism, and Carmen database storage, which together aim to achieve over 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) with an average finality of around one second. This marks a significant enhancement from Opera, where performance is capped at 30 TPS and finality is slower. Additionally, Sonic will drastically reduce storage requirements, making it cheaper and more efficient for validators to run nodes.

One of the standout features of the Sonic upgrade is the new FVM. The FVM replaces the previous Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) implementation, offering higher execution performance and improved smart contract processing. This improvement allows for faster transaction execution by bundling common instructions into “super instructions,” which streamline operations. Moreover, FVM supports caching of cryptographic hashes and jump analysis results, further enhancing execution speed and security. Notably, Sonic is fully compatible with existing EVM-based tools and contracts, meaning developers can transition smoothly to port their DApps over, without altering their codebases.

Another key component of the Sonic upgrade is the Carmen database, which significantly reduces the storage burden on the network. Unlike the traditional method of offline pruning, Carmen introduces live pruning, allowing validators to continuously prune unneeded data without going offline. This innovation lowers the disk space requirements for running nodes by up to 90%, making it much more accessible for participants to contribute to network security. Validators will benefit from smaller, more cost-effective storage needs while maintaining high performance, further reinforcing Fantom’s decentralisation and efficiency.

Sonic presents a more scalable, faster, and cost-efficient solution compared to Fantom’s current Opera mainnet. By improving TPS, reducing finality time, and cutting down on storage costs, Sonic is expected to enable new use cases like high-frequency DeFi platforms, blockchain gaming, and real-time oracles. Additionally, its smooth compatibility with existing EVM tools ensures that the upgrade will not disrupt the development environment, making it an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, change for Fantom’s growing ecosystem. As the mainnet launch approaches in November/December 2024, Sonic positions Fantom to compete more effectively with high-throughput blockchains, addressing long-standing scalability challenges without sacrificing decentralisation or security.

What Kind of Performance has Fantom Sonic Demonstrated on Testnet?

Fantom’s Sonic migration has demonstrated impressive performance on its testnets, showcasing the next level of blockchain scalability. On the closed testnet, Sonic has achieved over 2,000 transactions per second with an average finality time of around 1.1 seconds which is a 6700% increase in performance, as noted above. This far exceeds the current performance of the Fantom Opera mainnet, which operates at approximately 30 TPS. The closed testnet focuses on pushing the limits of the network’s capabilities, simulating real-world scenarios with a mix of synthetic transactions that include native token transfers, ERC20 token operations, and complex Uniswap trades. The results demonstrate Sonic’s capacity to handle significantly higher transaction volumes while maintaining fast finality.

The closed testnet has been subjected to heavy synthetic transaction loads, processing up to 175 million transactions per day without faltering. This high throughput is critical for blockchain applications that require near-instantaneous confirmations, such as DeFi, gaming, and high-frequency trading platforms. Notably, the testnet has managed to maintain stability even under such strenuous conditions, with transaction confirmation times consistently remaining around 1.1 seconds. The efficient use of gas and low finality times position Sonic to compete with, or even outperform, traditional financial networks in terms of transactional speed.

Currently, Visa processes around 150 million transactions per day on average, which equates to roughly 1,700 TPS. During peak times, Visa’s network is capable of handling up to 65,000 TPS, although it typically operates well below this maximum capacity. This makes Visa one of the most high-performance payment processing networks globally. Fantom’s Sonic upgrade would put it in a position to compete with centralised payment processors like Visa, but utilising a wholly decentralised network and architecture, which until now was simply not possible.

Sonic’s open testnet, which allows public interaction, has also demonstrated strong performance, albeit with a lower transaction throughput of around 130 TPS. This open environment gives developers and users the opportunity to experience the network’s enhanced speed and scalability firsthand. While synthetic transactions continue to run in the background, the open testnet offers ample capacity for real user transactions, maintaining a finality time of approximately 0.6 seconds. This responsiveness is crucial for user-facing DApps, ensuring smooth and fast interactions without the latency often experienced on other blockchain platforms.

Beyond speed, Sonic has also proven its efficiency in storage and resource usage. The testnets have shown a significant reduction in storage requirements for validators, with Sonic cutting node storage needs by up to 90% compared to the Opera mainnet. This reduction not only lowers operational costs for node operators but also enhances the scalability of the network by making it more accessible for new participants. Overall, the performance metrics from the Sonic testnets highlight its readiness to deliver scalable, high-speed, and cost-efficient blockchain infrastructure when it goes live.

What Kind of Benefits Could Fantom’s Sonic Migration Deliver for Web3?

Fantom’s Sonic upgrade promises significant benefits for the Web3 ecosystem, particularly in the areas of scalability, speed, and cost-efficiency. Sonic aims to address one of the most critical challenges in blockchain technology, the ability to handle a high volume of transactions without compromising speed or security. For DApps and platforms that rely on frequent and rapid transactions, such as DeFi, Blockchain-based gaming, and NFT marketplaces, this enhanced scalability can significantly improve user experience by reducing latency and preventing network congestion during high-traffic periods.

Another key advantage of the Sonic upgrade is its substantial reduction in storage requirements. With up to a 90% decrease in data storage needs, operating nodes and validators on the Fantom network will become far more accessible and affordable. This is crucial for Web3 projects, as lower infrastructure costs make it easier for more participants to run nodes, contributing to a more decentralised and resilient network. This reduction also benefits developers who need to store large amounts of historical data for their DApps, making it feasible to operate complex applications without being burdened by high storage costs.

Sonic’s enhanced consensus mechanism, Lachesis, optimises transaction validation, improving both security and efficiency. This ensures that while the network handles more transactions at faster speeds, it also maintains a high level of security, crucial for financial applications and data-sensitive platforms in the Web3 space. By eliminating the need for sharding or additional layer-2 solutions, Sonic keeps the network architecture simpler while still achieving remarkable performance gains. This could encourage more Web3 developers to build on Fantom, knowing they can scale without needing to redesign their applications or adapt to new infrastructure layers.

Sonic’s compatibility with the EVM and its ability to run Ethereum-based smart contracts seamlessly offer a major benefit for Web3 adoption. This cross-chain compatibility allows developers and users already familiar with Ethereum to transition to Fantom without needing to learn a new environment or rewrite code. As Web3 continues to expand across multiple blockchains, this kind of interoperability will be essential in enabling DApps to integrate across ecosystems, thereby boosting the overall utility and adoption of decentralised technologies.

With the Sonic upgrade, Fantom is now poised to compete directly with established centralised payment infrastructures like Visa, marking a significant milestone for decentralised blockchain technology. Sonic’s ability to process over 2,000 TPS with sub-second finality positions it in the realm of traditional financial networks, which are known for their speed and reliability. This is a monumental achievement for a decentralised blockchain, as it brings blockchain performance closer to real-time payment systems, enabling applications like DeFi, Web3 payments, and DApps to scale without the latency or congestion issues that have traditionally hindered decentralised networks. Fantom’s improvement in both transaction speed and cost efficiency, coupled with its security and transparency as a blockchain, allows it to challenge the dominance of centralised payment giants, signalling a new era in blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

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