 |
SINGAPORE, April 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As Layer 2 scaling solutions remain a focal point of industry discourse, Sonic presents a fundamental shift in blockchain architecture. HTX Research has announced the release of its latest report, "Sonic: A Model for the New DeFi Paradigm" The report dives into the details of the Sonic public chain.
Sonic's Evolution: 2000+ TPS, 0.7s Confirmation, Near-Zero Fees
The Fantom Opera blockchain, initially recognized for its speed and throughput as a high-performance aDAG-based Layer 1 solution, encountered scalability limitations as its ecosystem expanded. Its traditional EVM architecture struggled with bloated state storage, slow node synchronization, and execution bottlenecks. To overcome these challenges without resorting to sharding or Layer 2 solutions, Fantom developed Sonic — a fundamental redesign engineered to deliver a significant performance leap.
Sonic Labs, a new team led by CEO Michael Kong, CTO Andre Cronje (founder of Yearn Finance), and Chief Research Officer Bernhard Scholz, dedicated two and a half years to the redesign of Fantom's virtual machine, storage, and consensus. They built Sonic, a new, independent EVM-compatible chain capable of processing over 2,000 TPS, achieving 0.7-second finality, and executing transactions at a cost of $0.0001. It also improves storage efficiency by 90% and reduces node synchronization time from weeks to under two days.
Technical Innovations Driving Sonic's Performance
Sonic's enhanced performance is underpinned by three core technological advancements:
- SonicVM: A newly developed virtual machine fully compatible with the EVM, SonicVM optimizes computationally intensive operations like SHA3 hashing, pre-analyzes jump instructions, delivers significantly faster execution, and supports high throughput.
- SonicDB: Achieving nearly 90% data compression, SonicDB uses a layered storage strategy that splits the blockchain state into two databases: LiveDB for the current global state and ArchiveDB for historical blocks and states. This reduces node requirements and enhances network resilience through greater decentralization.
- Sonic Gateway: Functioning like an "L2-like" bridging solution to Ethereum, it uses a batch processing mechanism that strikes a balance between security and efficiency, enabling seamless two-way asset transfers and ecosystem access.
Stablecoin Ecosystem: Nested Yield and Resilient Growth
Defying market trends in 2025, Sonic's on-chain Total Value Locked (TVL) surged by over 500%, with the total stablecoin supply surpassing $260 million. This growth is driven by sophisticated high-leverage yield mechanisms.
- Silo v2 Loop Lending: Use staked S tokens to borrow stablecoins, achieving up to 20x exposure to capture combined incentives alongside stable yield spreads.
- Euler + Rings Protocol Combo: Deposit USDC to mint scUSD, then use leverage to potentially achieve up to 10x yield, along with Sonic points and protocol rewards.
- Shadow DEX Liquidity Provision for Rewards: By facilitating trading activity, particularly with the S/stS pair on Shadow, users can earn up to 169% APY and a share of trading fees.
Looking ahead, the ecosystem will incorporate Real World Asset (RWA) yields and off-chain payment solutions to create a sustainable and widely used stablecoin ecosystem backed by compliant assets and real-world applications.
Conclusion: Sonic - Leading the Charge in DeFi 2.0
Sonic's high performance, nested yields, and accessibility position it for rapid growth, with the potential to exceed $2B TVL and a multi-billion $S token market cap within a year. More importantly, Sonic is championing an "efficiency revolution" in blockchain design—prioritizing performance and capital efficiency to attract liquidity.
The report identifies technical challenges, including the adaptive AMM's reliance on external oracles, which introduces potential vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the inherent risks of high-leverage strategies in volatile markets necessitate the use of hedging instruments, such as short perpetual futures, to mitigate potential liquidations.
From a broader view, Sonic is well-positioned to lead the expected 2025 DeFi resurgence. Its thriving stablecoin ecosystem boosts the value of both the $S token and the network. Even in a bear market, Sonic demonstrates the potential for DeFi to establish resilient "yield havens" through innovation and performance. With its nested yields, developer-focused incentives, and efficient infrastructure, Sonic provides a model for the industry. The integration of RWAs and payment tools could place Sonic as a critical bridge between on-chain yields and real-world utility, driving DeFi toward mass adoption
For full report, please visit: https://square.htx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/HTX-Research-Latest-Report-1-1.pdf
About HTX Research
HTX Research is the dedicated research arm of HTX Group, responsible for conducting in-depth analyses, producing comprehensive reports, and delivering expert evaluations across a broad spectrum of topics, including cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and emerging market trends.
SINGAPORE, April 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As Layer 2 scaling solutions remain a focal point of industry discourse, Sonic presents a fundamental shift in blockchain architecture. HTX Research has announced the release of its latest report, "Sonic: A Model for the New DeFi Paradigm" The report dives into the details of the Sonic public chain.
Sonic's Evolution: 2000+ TPS, 0.7s Confirmation, Near-Zero Fees
The Fantom Opera blockchain, initially recognized for its speed and throughput as a high-performance aDAG-based Layer 1 solution, encountered scalability limitations as its ecosystem expanded. Its traditional EVM architecture struggled with bloated state storage, slow node synchronization, and execution bottlenecks. To overcome these challenges without resorting to sharding or Layer 2 solutions, Fantom developed Sonic — a fundamental redesign engineered to deliver a significant performance leap.
Sonic Labs, a new team led by CEO Michael Kong, CTO Andre Cronje (founder of Yearn Finance), and Chief Research Officer Bernhard Scholz, dedicated two and a half years to the redesign of Fantom's virtual machine, storage, and consensus. They built Sonic, a new, independent EVM-compatible chain capable of processing over 2,000 TPS, achieving 0.7-second finality, and executing transactions at a cost of $0.0001. It also improves storage efficiency by 90% and reduces node synchronization time from weeks to under two days.
Technical Innovations Driving Sonic's Performance
Sonic's enhanced performance is underpinned by three core technological advancements:
- SonicVM: A newly developed virtual machine fully compatible with the EVM, SonicVM optimizes computationally intensive operations like SHA3 hashing, pre-analyzes jump instructions, delivers significantly faster execution, and supports high throughput.
- SonicDB: Achieving nearly 90% data compression, SonicDB uses a layered storage strategy that splits the blockchain state into two databases: LiveDB for the current global state and ArchiveDB for historical blocks and states. This reduces node requirements and enhances network resilience through greater decentralization.
- Sonic Gateway: Functioning like an "L2-like" bridging solution to Ethereum, it uses a batch processing mechanism that strikes a balance between security and efficiency, enabling seamless two-way asset transfers and ecosystem access.
Stablecoin Ecosystem: Nested Yield and Resilient Growth
Defying market trends in 2025, Sonic's on-chain Total Value Locked (TVL) surged by over 500%, with the total stablecoin supply surpassing $260 million. This growth is driven by sophisticated high-leverage yield mechanisms.
- Silo v2 Loop Lending: Use staked S tokens to borrow stablecoins, achieving up to 20x exposure to capture combined incentives alongside stable yield spreads.
- Euler + Rings Protocol Combo: Deposit USDC to mint scUSD, then use leverage to potentially achieve up to 10x yield, along with Sonic points and protocol rewards.
- Shadow DEX Liquidity Provision for Rewards: By facilitating trading activity, particularly with the S/stS pair on Shadow, users can earn up to 169% APY and a share of trading fees.
Looking ahead, the ecosystem will incorporate Real World Asset (RWA) yields and off-chain payment solutions to create a sustainable and widely used stablecoin ecosystem backed by compliant assets and real-world applications.
Conclusion: Sonic - Leading the Charge in DeFi 2.0
Sonic's high performance, nested yields, and accessibility position it for rapid growth, with the potential to exceed $2B TVL and a multi-billion $S token market cap within a year. More importantly, Sonic is championing an "efficiency revolution" in blockchain design—prioritizing performance and capital efficiency to attract liquidity.
The report identifies technical challenges, including the adaptive AMM's reliance on external oracles, which introduces potential vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the inherent risks of high-leverage strategies in volatile markets necessitate the use of hedging instruments, such as short perpetual futures, to mitigate potential liquidations.
From a broader view, Sonic is well-positioned to lead the expected 2025 DeFi resurgence. Its thriving stablecoin ecosystem boosts the value of both the $S token and the network. Even in a bear market, Sonic demonstrates the potential for DeFi to establish resilient "yield havens" through innovation and performance. With its nested yields, developer-focused incentives, and efficient infrastructure, Sonic provides a model for the industry. The integration of RWAs and payment tools could place Sonic as a critical bridge between on-chain yields and real-world utility, driving DeFi toward mass adoption
For full report, please visit: https://square.htx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/HTX-Research-Latest-Report-1-1.pdf
About HTX Research
HTX Research is the dedicated research arm of HTX Group, responsible for conducting in-depth analyses, producing comprehensive reports, and delivering expert evaluations across a broad spectrum of topics, including cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and emerging market trends.
** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **
HTX Research Latest Report | Sonic: A Model for the New DeFi Paradigm
DUBLIN, Jan. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm, today announced a $1 billion expansion of its proprietary Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program (DCLP), increasing total capacity to $2.5 billion. The expansion responds to accelerating global investment in cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure and increasing complexity of risks across the data center lifecycle.
First introduced in 2025, DCLP is a multi-line insurance solution designed to support data center projects from construction through ongoing operations. The program brings together traditionally fragmented risk classes into a single coordinated insurance solution. By integrating construction, cyber, cargo and operational risks, DCLP helps clients secure capacity at scale, reduce friction and execute projects more efficiently.
"Managing risk throughout the data center lifecycle is a strategic imperative – these platforms drive innovation, connectivity and economic growth," said Greg Case, president and CEO of Aon. "As these facilities become more critical and complex, building resilience into their infrastructure is essential for the broader business ecosystem. Aon is committed to helping clients anticipate risks, strengthen operational continuity and invest in the future of digital infrastructure with confidence."
The expanded DCLP is designed to support investors, developers and operators as data centers grow larger, more capital-intensive and more operationally complex. By integrating insurance capacity with risk engineering and analytics, the program helps clients anticipate risk, demonstrate resilience to stakeholders and support long term performance.
"When disruptions occur, the financial and operational consequences can be significant and ripple well beyond a single facility, affecting customers, supply chains and broader business operations," said Joe Peiser, CEO of Commercial Risk for Aon. "By expanding the capacity of DCLP, we are helping clients manage risk across the full lifecycle of a data center – from build-out to steady state operations, while supporting faster, more certain execution."
Key Features of the Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program include:
- Up to $2.5 billion in coverage for Construction All Risks, Delay in Start-Up (DSU) and Operational Property Damage/Business Interruption.
- Cyber, Cyber Property Damage and Tech E&O coverage up to $400M, including DSU (damage and non-damage), business interruption and SLA violations.
- Third-party liability coverage up to $100 million (excluding U.S. exposures).
- Project cargo and transport insurance up to $500 million.
- Integrated risk engineering and cyber impact modelling available through Aon's Global Risk Consulting team.
This expansion of the DCLP builds upon Aon's broader strategy to scale innovative Risk Capital solutions for digital infrastructure. Late last year, Aon also announced the renewal of its Client Treaty — a proprietary follow-on facility designed to provide broad, multi-line coverage for complex risks — with enhanced terms that include protection for extended construction periods. This renewal reflects Aon's commitment to helping clients manage the unique challenges of large-scale technology projects, ensuring resilience from initial build through operational phases.
About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE: AON) exists to shape decisions for the better — to protect and enrich the lives of people around the world. Through actionable analytic insight, globally integrated Risk Capital and Human Capital expertise, and locally relevant solutions, our colleagues provide clients in over 120 countries with the clarity and confidence to make better risk and people decisions that help protect and grow their businesses.
Follow Aon on LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Instagram. Stay up-to-date by visiting Aon's newsroom and sign up for news alerts here.
Media Contact
mediainquiries@aon.com
Toll-free (U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico): +1 833 751 8114
International: +1 312 381 3024
** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **
Aon expands Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program to $2.5 billion, strengthening resilience for AI-driving digital infrastructure
