1. Project Introduction
1. Basic information of the project
Sonic SVM is the first SVM (Solana Virtual Machine) Layer 2 network expansion project based on the Solana blockchain, focusing on the optimization of games and high-frequency interactive applications. The project vision is to expand Solana's infrastructure based on the HyperGrid architecture, providing game developers with a high-performance, low-cost blockchain environment to support large-scale online games and applications and meet the growing needs of Web3 users.
2. Project development history
2023: The core team of the project is initially formed, and technical research and development work is officially launched, focusing on the design of the Sonic HyperGrid framework, which is gradually improved after multiple rounds of technical verification.
March 2024: The Sonic SVM white paper is released, which details the architecture and mechanism of Sonic SVM and lays a theoretical foundation for the development of the project.
June 2024: Completed a $12 million financing round led by Bitkraft, with participation from Galaxy Interactive, Big Brain Holdings, Morningstar Ventures, etc., providing financial support for the further development of the project.
June 2024: Launch the testnet and start attracting developers and users to participate in the test to verify the performance and stability of the project. More than 100,000 wallet addresses were accumulated within a week.
January 2025: $SONIC tokens will be officially generated (TGE) and will be simultaneously launched on well-known trading platforms such as OKX, Bybit, Bitget, and KuCoin.
3. Core Team Background
The core team of Sonic SVM is very young. The main founders were born out of rct AI. The main personnel include:
Chris Zhu, CEO, graduated from NYU Stern School of Business in 2020. He has worked at ByteDance and rct AI. He founded Mirror World (the predecessor of Sonic) in September 2021.
Jialin Zhu, Chief Product Officer, graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2021. He previously worked at rct AI and co-founded Mirror World in 2021.
Jonathan Bakebwa, CTO, graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology in 2020. He worked at rct AI and founded Xtellar Works. In 2021, he co-founded Mirror World.
Yutong Li, Finance/Legal/HR Director, graduated from the University of New South Wales in 2021. He has interned at several consulting firms such as Accenture and BCG, as well as Internet companies such as ByteDance and Alibaba. He joined Mirror World in February 2022 and served as Product Director.
Arif Kazi, Business Director, graduated from BSE Institute Ltd in 2021. He has worked in companies such as mesha, Stader Labs, DappLooker, and joined Sonic in October 2023.
2. Business Model
1. Technical logic
Sonic SVM is based on HyperGrid technology, which enables distributed operation of games and DApps by building a multi-grid architecture (Grids).
HyperGrid is a parallel processing framework that enhances Solana's infrastructure. HyperGrid is designed to be highly customizable and scalable while maintaining native composability with Solana. Applications supported by HyperGrid can be written on the EVM, but ultimately executed on Solana, with Solana as the final settlement layer, which is conducive to bringing EVM ecosystem applications to the Solana chain. This is different from the direction of MoveVM technology, which is Ethereum's final settlement layer.
Grids is designed to allow a large number of DApps running on HyperGrid to reduce the impact on Solana L1 performance and minimize performance interference between DApps. With the support of the HyperGrid architecture, DApp developers can choose to use the HyperGrid public grid according to their needs, or scale horizontally to create their own exclusive grid. The choice depends entirely on the developer's evaluation of performance and cost. In addition, DApp developers can also shut down the grids they created without affecting other grids, because the verification, recording and reading of transactions and state changes generated by each grid are ultimately completed independently through the connection between HyperGrid and Solana L1.
2. Staking and the Validator Network
The HyperGrid ecosystem adopts a staking protocol where validators need to stake $SOL as collateral to participate in the network. This staking mechanism is not just a passive lock of funds, but an active commitment to ensure the security and continuity of all grids within HyperGrid. In line with EigenLayer's re-staking concept, the collective staking pool acts as the underlying security guarantee for the entire HyperGrid system.
Validators in HyperGrid have multiple roles, not just producing blocks. Their responsibilities include:
Ø Transaction Sequencing: Validators sort transactions from the grid to ensure order and consistency in the processing flow.
Ø Slot Proposal: As network facilitators, Validators propose Solts (equivalent to blocks) to each grid. This can be seen as outsourcing of execution, where the grid is responsible for the calculation of state transitions.
Ø Execution Verification: After execution, Validators verify whether the result meets the expected state transition. This step is crucial to maintaining the integrity of the ledger.
Ø State Commitment: After successful verification, Validators are responsible for publishing the verified state transition to the Solana mainnet.
3. Incentive Model
Delegating a range of actions to validators is critical to maintaining a trustless and decentralized environment that ensures no single entity can exert undue influence over the network.
In recognition of the critical role of validators, they are compensated in HyperGrid tokens for their services. This incentive model is designed to encourage honest participation and discourage malicious behavior. The reward structure, including detailed numbers and equations, is planned to be adjusted through an iterative development process. It will be calibrated to the performance and security needs of the network, ensuring that validators' interests are closely aligned with the health and success of the HyperGrid ecosystem.
Starting a validator requires the operator to stake 100 SOL tokens. Once a validator is established, they are eligible to receive votes from other users. These users participate by purchasing SONIC tokens, which are then locked to be converted into $veSonic. By staking their $veSonic tokens to validators, users are able to share in the rewards generated by the validator. These rewards are then distributed between the validator and the users who staked the tokens, creating a symbiotic relationship within the system that encourages participation and investment in the health and growth of the network.
In the HyperGrid ecosystem, validators also take on the responsibility of shared sequencers, so L2 platforms built on HyperGrid will give preference to shared sequencers among these validators. As part of their compensation, validators will receive a portion of the sequence fees, which helps to increase their revenue stream.
In addition, the system incorporates observation nodes, which are responsible for verifying the accuracy of transactions conducted on various L2s. As a key component in ensuring the security of the system, these observation nodes play a vital role in detecting any centralized malicious activities, which may trigger the slashing mechanism. For their monitoring work, these nodes will be rewarded with SONIC tokens.
Holding $veSonic represents capturing value within the ecosystem, such as embedded exchange fees, a portion of NFT marketplace transaction fees, and launchpad revenue share. This reflects the intrinsic value proposition of $veSonic. In addition, as a recognition of ecosystem contribution, $veSonic holders are eligible for additional ecosystem rewards. Priority is given to $veSonic holders, and future games released on HyperGrid will provide them with rewards, allowing users to choose the game rewards they wish to receive, thereby enhancing interactivity and participation within the ecosystem.
4. Token Economics
The native token of Sonic SVM is $SONIC, with a total supply of 2.4 billion and an initial circulation of 15%. The specific distribution is as follows:
Ø Community: 57% is allocated to the community, including ecosystem and community development (30%), initial adoption (7%), and HyperGrid rewards (20%).
Ø Early Supporters: 8% is allocated to early supporters. These tokens will be linearly unlocked starting after 12 months and lasting for 24 months.
Ø Investors: 15% is allocated to investors. These tokens will be unlocked linearly starting after 12 months and lasting for 24 months.
Ø Foundation: 20% is allocated to the foundation, including team members and consultants. These tokens will be unlocked linearly starting after 18 months and lasting for 36 months.
Main uses of tokens:
Ø Payment tool: $SONIC can be used to pay for in-game assets, NFTs, and other application services.
Ø Staking and Rewards: Users and validators receive network rewards by staking $SONIC.
Ø Governance voting: Token holders can participate in key network decisions, including new project funding and network upgrade proposals.
Ø Incentive mechanism: Support developers and users to obtain token rewards by participating in ecological activities.
3. Project Prospects
1. Industry analysis
Blockchain technology provides new opportunities for game developers, such as digital asset ownership, decentralized economy, and community governance. The blockchain game and decentralized application industries are rising rapidly. According to data analysis, the global blockchain game market is expected to reach 30 billion US dollars in 2025. The number of Web3 game users is also growing at a rate of 50% per year. However, scalability remains one of the main challenges facing Web3 games.
Users have a strong demand for high-performance, low-cost gaming experiences, especially in application scenarios with high-frequency interactions and real-time responses. Developers need a blockchain platform that can support large-scale users and high throughput to build and operate successful Web3 games.
With the continuous advancement of technology and the maturity of the market, Web3 games are expected to become an important part of the mainstream game market. However, most of the current mainstream Web3 games are deployed on Polygon, BNB, and ETH chains. None of the top 25 UAW games run on Solana; nor are any of the top 10 games by market value born on Solana. Therefore, Sonic SVM is expected to occupy an important position in this market with its high performance and low latency characteristics, and promote the large-scale adoption of Web3 games.
2. Ecological construction
As a project born for Web3 games, Sonic SVM works closely with game studios. In addition to providing technical support, it also conducts joint marketing activities. For example, the first 3A masterpiece launched in cooperation with the well-known game studio 343 Industries received more than 100,000 downloads in the early stage of its launch. The two parties deeply bound their interests through revenue sharing, NFT joint issuance and other models, and the sales of NFTs in the game exceeded US$500,000 on the first day. In addition, cooperation with social media platforms such as TikTok has introduced massive traffic to the ecosystem, and achieved exponential growth and retention of users through creative challenges and Internet celebrity promotion. The cumulative number of participants in the challenge has exceeded 5 million, and Internet celebrity promotion has brought more than 2 million new users.
In terms of community building, Sonic SVM has established an active community governance mechanism, and $SONIC token holders can participate in project decision-making, including protocol upgrades, handling fee adjustments, and the use of ecological funds. Regular community AMA (Ask Me Anything) events are held at least twice a month to bring the team closer to users, collect feedback, and optimize the project development path in a timely manner. More than 80% of community suggestions have been effectively responded to and implemented.
3. Development plan
According to the official roadmap released by Sonic SVM, its development plan is as follows:
( 1 ) Phase 1 : Network Genesis ( Q4 2024 to Q1 2025 )
Ø HyperGrid Network Genesis: Launches the HyperGrid shared state network, supports the creation of interconnected SVM networks, and achieves seamless interoperability.
Ø Sonic SVM Genesis: The Sonic SVM network is officially launched, laying the foundation for scalable on-chain gaming.
Ø HyperFuse Network Security: Deploy a decentralized node cluster to ensure the security and accuracy of HyperGrid.
Ø $SONIC TGE: Complete the token generation event for $SONIC, unlocking its full ecosystem potential.
( 2 ) Phase 2: Mainnet Alpha Launch ( Q1 2025 )
Ø Sonic Mainnet-Alpha: Sonic SVM mainnet Alpha version is officially launched, including key services such as bridging, decentralized exchanges, oracles and NFT programs.
Ø Sonic X - TikTok App Layer: Launches native Android and IOS applications to provide support for high-quality games and digital asset distribution.
Ø Sonic Bridge: Integrate the official token bridge to support assets such as SOL, sSOL, sonicSOL and stablecoins (USDC/T).
Ø HSSN Validator Onboarding: Activate HSSN validators to ensure network security and operations.
( 3 ) Phase 3: Ecosystem Expansion ( Q2 2025 )
Ø HyperGrid Optimistic Rollup Stack: Integrate the new SVM into the HyperGrid Op-Rollup stack to improve network scalability.
Ø Grid v2 Deployment: Launch the Sonic Grid v2 test network and plan to integrate it into the main network to improve network performance.
Ø $SONIC Staking & Rewards: Introducing the $SONIC staking and rewards program, holders can obtain rewards through HSSN validators, and implement a penalty mechanism to ensure network security.
Ø RUSH ECS Growth: Expand the RUSH ECS framework and add SDK clients that support more on-chain games.
4. Competitors
Sonic SVM is the first scaling solution for gaming on Solana. Similar projects include other Layer 2 solutions, as well as blockchain platforms specifically for gaming, such as Immutable X and WAX.
( 1 ) Immutable X
The Layer 2 solution for NFT on Ethereum has attracted many well-known game projects, such as Gods Unchained. Immutable X has gained market recognition through its high performance and low fees.
( 2 ) WAX
WAX is a blockchain platform focused on games and NFTs, and has built a rich ecosystem that supports multiple games and applications. WAX has attracted a large number of users through its efficient transaction processing capabilities and low fees.
Compared with similar competing products, relying on Solana's high TPS (theoretical peak value exceeds 60,000 TPS), Sonic SVM's Layer 2 solution can ensure transaction confirmation in seconds, with an average handling fee as low as $0.5, providing users with a smooth and low-cost interactive experience, far exceeding the transaction efficiency of most competing products on the public chain. In addition, through cooperation with mainstream social platforms such as TikTok, Sonic SVM has a large number of potential users. Compared with promotion limited to the crypto-native community, it has a wider audience and greater user growth potential.
5. Investment potential
Sonic SVM has opened up a new track with its unique technical architecture, innovative business model and forward-looking ecological layout. Since its launch, the project has shown strong development momentum through a series of breakthroughs in key nodes. Sonic SVM is expected to occupy an important position in the Web3 game market with its high performance and low latency.
From the perspective of token usage, $SONIC, as the native token of the Sonic SVM ecosystem, has a wide range of usage scenarios. From the perspective of token allocation and unlocking rhythm, the allocation ratio is relatively reasonable, but a large number of tokens will be unlocked after 12 months. Whether the development of Sonic SVM can meet the established expectations at that time is highly uncertain.
Overall, the most important investment story of Sonic SVM is still the traffic from platforms such as Tiktok (it is worth mentioning that the founder of Sonic SVM worked at ByteDance for 2 years, but his position was relatively low, and there are certain doubts about the extent to which he can contact resources). If it can successfully achieve large-scale breakthroughs, the valuation of $SONIC tokens will have at least 10 times the upward space compared to the current level, which may be worth a small position to gamble on the upward probability; but if it fails to attract a large number of Web2 users as expected, coupled with the uncertainty of the Solana network in the Web3 game market, the story of Sonic SVM may be difficult to continue.
In summary, it is recommended to consider investment in $SONIC with caution .
IV. Conclusion
As a new Layer 2 solution in the Solana ecosystem, Sonic SVM provides a high-performance, low-cost blockchain environment for games and high-frequency applications through its innovative technical architecture and customized functions. Its cooperation with TikTok and successful market performance further prove its strong ability to attract users and developers. With the continuous expansion of the ecosystem and the continuous optimization of technology, Sonic SVM is likely to achieve greater breakthroughs in the Web3 field and promote the large-scale adoption of Web3 games.
For investors with a higher risk appetite and a long-term bullish view on the development of Web3 games and applications, they can allocate a small amount of $SONIC on dips while paying close attention to the progress of technology and ecology, in order to bet on the probability of the game project becoming a hit. Conservative investors are advised to wait and see, and make decisions only after the market matures and the uncertainty of the project is reduced.
