Sonic Labs Pivots to Long-Term Business Value and Token Sustainability

Sonic Labs Focuses on Long-Term Value and Token Sustainability

Sonic Labs, the entity behind the Sonic layer-1 blockchain, has announced a significant strategic pivot. Moving away from a primary focus on transaction speed, Sonic Labs will now prioritize building long-term business value and ensuring the sustainability of its S token. After claiming industry-leading performance last year, Sonic Labs stated that its next chapter will focus on upgrades delivering measurable financial outcomes. These include new Ethereum and Sonic Improvement Proposals (EIPs and SIPs), reductions in token supply, and revamped rewards for network participants. "Every decision we make moving forward will be guided by the principles of building real value, with price, growth, and sustainability always in focus," said Mitchell Demeter, the new CEO of Sonic Labs. The new focus aims to bring "measurable, lasting value" for builders, validators, and token holders, Demeter wrote in a Tuesday X post. "Our mission at Sonic is to move beyond hype and build a sustainable business model for a layer one, that creates, captures, and returns real value to tokenholders."

New Monetization Upgrades

The new fee monetization upgrade will incorporate a tiered reward system for builders and fixed rewards for validators. Sonic Labs will also increase the rate of programmatic Sonic (S) token burns, which involves permanently removing tokens from circulation to tighten supply. Sonic claims to be the world’s fastest Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain, boasting a “true” finality of 720 milliseconds (ms) — the assurance that a transaction is irreversible, occurring after it's added to a block on the blockchain ledger.

Institutional Expansion and Policy Engagement

Sonic Labs also announced the opening of a new office in New York, aiming to bolster its US expansion by renewing focus on “institutional engagement and policy relationships.” “Part of this expansion includes building out our institutional sales arm to engage investors and enterprise partners looking to adopt blockchain infrastructure,” Demeter added, in his first public announcement as CEO. The news may be a welcome sign for Sonic token holders. The token has been in decline since the protocol rebranded from Fantom in January, experiencing a drop of over 80% since the rebranding and more than 20% in just the past month, according to data from the crypto intelligence platform Nansen. Furthermore, the industry’s leading traders by returns, or “smart money” traders, have been exiting their positions. This cohort sold a cumulative $245 million worth of S tokens in the past week. While “price alone isn’t the goal,” the CEO added that Sonic Labs will focus on creating a solid foundation for the token’s long-term growth.