Sonic is live! Sonic is a new Layer-1 network developed by the team behind Fantom, including Andre Cronje. The road to Sonic began with a series of four Fantom governance proposals between May and July and culminated yesterday when mainnet went live. A core feature of Sonic is Fee Monetization (FeeM). FeeM allows protocols approved by governance to capture transaction fees generated by their application. Transactions fall under two categories:

FeeM: Transaction fees generated by FeeM protocols will be distributed as follows; 90% to the protocol and 10% to validators.

Non-FeeM: Transaction fees generated by non-FeeM protocols will be distributed as follows: 50% burned, 45% to validators, and 5% to the Ecosystem Vault.

FTM is S. Testnet campaigns (Road to Sonic, Sonic Boom, Sonic Arcade) generated hype and provided ways to earn points and gems before yesterday’s launch. Now, tokenholders can now convert FTM to S at a 1:1 ratio. Alongside the new token comes a reimagining of tokenomics. The token will now become inflationary, highlighted by 190.5 million S (6% of the initial supply) being minted for airdrops over the next two years.

The airdrop allocation is worth $221 million. While specific details are yet to be announced, historic Fantom users and new Sonic users will be eligible. Fantom ended with a TVL of $136 million. Less than a day after launch, Sonic’s TVL sits at $3.7 million. Users and capital are flowing in as airdrop farming begins. 

Fantom hasn’t been top of mind. A major rebrand, relaunch, and tokenomics update provides another shot on goal. A chance to reinvigorate the ecosystem and onboard net new capital and users. This trickles down to applications too. Beethoven X, a Fantom-native DEX, is rebranding to Beets as it shifts strategy to focus on liquid-staked S (stS) and a DAO-managed validator.

Competition is tough. Can Sonic compete for users, assets, and mindshare from the crowd of new networks like Hyperliquid, MegaETH, Eclipse, Monad, Berachain, and Ink? Time will tell. 

There aren’t yet a huge number of regulated venues for security tokens, but Singapore based AsiaNext is one of them. This month it listed its first tokenized security, a USD money market fund (MMF), and launched a novel digital collateral solution.

AsiaNext was founded as a joint venture between Switzerland’s SIX and Japan’s SBI Holdings. Both companies have a pedigree with digital securities secondary markets in SDX and ODX respectively. However, AsiaNext first launched with crypto derivatives at the start of this year. They don’t require a license in Singapore.

That’s the first of three trading offerings, which is highly relevant because the collateral solution allows collateral from one area to be used in others.

The company holds a Singapore capital markets license and another as a recognized market operator (RMO), which allows it to operate a digital exchange. The MMF is the first digital securities listing. It is working with asset managers to list other funds, including Valour a multinational crypto ETP issuer with $900 million in assets under management.

AsiaNext is also planning a third trading venue for spot crypto trading and has applied for a Major Payments Institution license.

A novel digital collateral solution

In the meantime, it has launched the AsiaNext Orchestration Layer (AXOL) which integrates the three trading venues. Given derivatives trading usually works on margin, the collateral that institutions can post could be fiat currency, stablecoins, crypto or digital securities. Those could all come from one of the three trading venues, enabling capital efficiency. AXOL uses workflows to streamline the collateral management and members can also earn yield on their assets.

Our launch of the AsiaNext Orchestration Layer is a bold step into the future of institutional crypto trading,” said Neil Thomas, Chief Commercial Officer at AsiaNext. “By combining the power of blockchain technology with tried and tested finance principles, we are giving our members the edge they need to thrive in an increasingly complex trading environment”

Meanwhile, earlier this year AsiaNext collaborated with Malaysian digital assets platform, KLDX, which focuses on private equity and debt. Through the collaboration they plan to offer a wider range of investments and improve liquidity.

One of AsiaNext’s affiliates, SBI Digital Markets, is also working with new EU exchange 21X to list products in Europe.

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