Sonic Labs pivots from speed to survival with business-first strategy

Sonic Labs, the organization behind the Sonic layer-1 blockchain, announced a major strategic shift as it pivots from emphasizing transaction speed to building long-term business value and token sustainability.

After claiming industry-leading performance last year, Sonic Labs said its next chapter will focus on upgrades that deliver measurable financial outcomes, including new Ethereum and Sonic Improvement Proposals (EIPs and SIPs), token supply reductions 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 focus aims to bring “measurable, lasting value” for builders, validators and tokenholders, wrote Demeter in a Tuesday X . “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.”

The new fee monetization upgrade will include 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 means permanently removing tokens from circulation to tighten the supply.

Sonic claims to be the world’s fastest Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain, with a “true” of 720 milliseconds (ms) — the assurance that a transaction is irreversible, which occurs after it is added to a block on the blockchain ledger.

The project has garnered attention in the crypto industry since its on Sept. 8, 2024.

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Sonic Labs also announced the opening of an office in New York 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,” added Demeter, in his first public announcement as CEO.

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The news may come as a welcome sign for Sonic tokenholders. The token has been in free fall since the protocol rebranded from Fantom in January, with a decline of over 80% since the rebranding and more than 20% in just the past month, according to data from the crypto intelligence platform .

Moreover, 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.

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