Fantom is about to launch the next generation network Sonic, which may have an impact on the Layer 2 landscape.

Recently, FTM has once again become the focus of investor attention in the cryptocurrency market. In March, the price of FTM surged by 150%. Even in the last week, when the overall market has declined, FTM still rose by 30% against the trend. Such performance has intensified the market's interest in FTM's potential.

There are several reasons for the resurgence of FTM. First, the active promotion by Andre Cronje, director of the Fantom Foundation, has injected new vitality into the project. Second, the upcoming launch of Fantom Sonic has sparked positive market expectations. Cronje stated that Sonic will surpass "parallel EVM", which further boosts investor confidence.

Fantom was founded by Ahn Byung in January 2018 and later taken over by Michael Kong. The project aims to overcome the limitations of the previous generation of blockchains, balancing the three main characteristics of scalability, security, and decentralization. Andre Cronje joined as a DeFi architect and made significant contributions to Fantom's technological breakthroughs.

Fantom adopts the DAG-based aBFT consensus mechanism Lachesis, making it faster, cheaper, and more secure than traditional technologies. In 2019, Fantom launched the first generation of the EVM-compatible Opera mainnet, which supports smart contracts.

In March 2022, there were reports that Andre Cronje would leave the DeFi industry, leading to a sharp decline in the price of FTM. It wasn't until early this year, when Cronje frequently released updates on the Fantom ecosystem, that investor enthusiasm was reignited.

Fantom Sonic is the latest technological upgrade of the Fantom network, aimed at enhancing the scalability and efficiency of the network. It introduces a series of innovative technologies:

1. Fantom Virtual Machine ( FVM ): Provides a more efficient smart contract execution environment.

2. Carmen Database: Significantly reduces storage requirements and improves data management efficiency.

3. Optimized Lachesis consensus mechanism: Accelerates transaction confirmation and improves network throughput.

4. High throughput and low latency: The theoretical trading limit exceeds 2,000 transactions per second, with an average finalization time of only 1 second.

5. Smooth Upgrade: Fully compatible with the existing Opera network.

The release of Sonic marks a new chapter for Fantom. After the upgrade, Fantom features no-fork upgrades, true parallel transactions, top-tier TPS, and finality.

Currently, there are over 250 projects in the Fantom ecosystem, with nearly half being DeFi projects. Compared to promoting the Meme ecosystem, prioritizing the development of the DeFi ecosystem is more important for Fantom. The Fantom Foundation plans to launch a series of DeFi-related initiatives through Sonic, including support for liquid staking tokens, new staking mechanisms, and cross-chain solutions.

To attract more quality projects, the Fantom Foundation has established the Sonic Labs incubator. The recently announced award-winning projects cover multiple fields, including perpetual DEX, social protocols, P2P lending platforms, green technology, and RPG blockchain games.

The emergence of Sonic provides a new idea for solving blockchain scalability. Its performance metrics have surpassed most Layer 2 solutions, indicating that Layer 1 public chains can also enhance scalability through technological innovation.

With Andre Cronje's return, the Sonic upgrade, and the revival of the DeFi ecosystem, Fantom may rise again in this bull market, becoming one of the projects to watch.