Fantom is a DAG-based distributed network for smart contracts, with an internal FTM token. Fantom’s goal is to create IT infrastructure for cities, smart homes, utilities, healthcare, education, traffic and resource management. Additionally, the network can process thousands of transactions simultaneously, reducing transaction fees.
In December 2017, Fantom launched the Opera mainnet, which contains most of the nodes, transactions become faster, to the point of being processed instantly. As the network grows, the number of nodes becomes larger and larger, However, the way it was designed makes the blockchain infinitely scalable. It turns out that an increase in the number of users does not slow down, but speeds up the blockchain which is EVM compatible, and later on, they launched an upgrade named “Go-opera”, which boosted the network’s performance even more.
DAG Technology
Later on, to encourage developers to return to the ecosystem, Fantom introduced the concept of DAG technology, which has been used in other areas before, but this is the first time it has been used in cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, it can become a useful feature for the development of decentralized applications to reward developers with a part of the network fee.
1/ “One of Fantom’s biggest initiatives in Q4’23 was the Sonic upgrade.”@MessariCrypto‘s Q4 ’23 report on #Fantom covered the innovation of Sonic, such as:
💻 Fantom Virtual Machine
💾 Carmen database storage
🧪 Sonic testnet environmentLet’s explore what the report said 👇 pic.twitter.com/488VoiyYHl
— Fantom Foundation (@FantomFDN) January 26, 2024
Moving on, they also launched Fantom Sonic, as the new tech stack to replace Opera with more benefits like increased finality, reduced storage, faster network, etc. Later on, the company introduced the Sonic Labs start-up program to onboard more developers, it’s M-compatible blockchain showcasing brand-new technology created by Fantom. The company is not just offering up to 5 mil FTM, but also it provides additional benefits such as mentorship and early access to the Sonic Mainnet.
Is Fantom Sonic The Next Solution to Blockchain Scalability Challenges?
The continuous issue with blockchains is their struggle to scale across multiple network uses. Despite Ethereum’s rollup introduction for scalability, the concerns are rising about decentralization, security threats, as well as more issues with the user experience. On the other hand, interacting with the mainnet faces limitations due to the high network fees and congestion.
The company opted to enhance its main layer rather than to create another L2, and in this enhancement they addressed transaction fees and ensured timely finality.
The Sonic upgrade is a new innovation in the tech realm and it’s meant to replace Opera. It includes Fantom Virtual Machine or the (FVM), and improved Lachesis consensus mechanism, as well as Carmen database storage.
Fantom: Three main upgrades include:
- The Fantom VM, which offers a faster smart contract execution compared to the old EVM.
- Carmen database storage, which uses a more efficient data structure to offer up to a 90% storage reduction, lowering costs for validators.
- Optimized Lachesis consensus mechanism, providing an improved transaction pool.
With the above mentioned upgrades, Sonic anticipates to achieve 2,048+ transactions per second with ultra-short finality.
Additionally, Sonic’s reduced storage requirements (from 11 TB to less than 1 TB for archive nodes) and that makes it far more affordable and accessible for anyone to launch validators and participate in the consensus network.
At The End
Fantom Sonic is set to pave the way for a new future in the realm of the ecosystem. The technology behind it tends to achieve this by setting up the base layer, and that will help the overall performance, and thus you cannot ignore the ecosystem. The company mentioned that they scheduled the mainnet for this project to be in spring 2024 and will allow new markets to adopt blockchain technology previously hindered by limited transaction throughput and slow transactions. We envision a new era of DeFi platforms, blockchain games, and much more applications that can leverage the speed and scalability of Sonic.
