The old tree blooms new flowers, Sonic ecosystem grows against the trend, a list of major native DeFi projects

Despite a challenging crypto market, the Sonic ecosystem (formerly Fantom) is thriving with significant growth and innovation. Here’s a breakdown of its progress:

Technical upgrades: Sonic now boasts 10,000 TPS, sub-second finality, and Solidity/Vyper support, with performance improvements making it 2.04x faster and 67.8% more memory-efficient.
Incentive programs:
- FeeM allows apps to earn 90% of generated fees.
- A $200M Innovators Fund supports new initiatives.
- $200M in airdrops rewards users.
Ecosystem growth:
- Among top 25 chains by TVL, Sonic saw the largest increase last month.
- Over $500K in $S allocated via FeeM to fee-generating projects.
Key integrations:
- Aave launched on Sonic with $15M incentives, hitting supply caps on day one.
- DefiLlama and Trust Wallet added Sonic support for seamless swaps and asset management.
- Jumper enables cross-chain bridging to Sonic.
Native DeFi projects:
- Shadow Exchange: A (3,3) model DEX with high APY, ranking 5th in fees.
- Stream Finance: Yield product with 25% APY USDC pools, growing to $25M TVL in 10 days.
- SwapX: Modular AMM DEX with Algebra Integral and VE(3,3) tokenomics.
- Hand of God: AI-driven DeFi protocol with $19M TVL, inspired by Tomb Finance.
- Eggs Finance: Leverage-based protocol for minting $EGGS with $S.
- Metropolis: DLMM-powered DEX combining AMM and order book features.

Sonic’s rebranding and strategic initiatives are driving adoption, positioning it as a resilient player in the DeFi space.

Author: Castle Labs

Compiled by: Felix, PANews

The last two months have been one of the most challenging periods in the crypto space, with players exiting in droves and liquidity becoming the scarcest commodity in the space.

Likewise, individual ecosystems face growth challenges, but Sonic has been fighting through the bloodbath.

From Fantom to Sonic

From a technical perspective, the transition from Fantom to Sonic makes the chain one of the best performing EVM L1s with:

10,000 TPS
Sub-second finality
Solidity/Vyper support

Thanks to incremental Sonic consensus, these features continue to improve rapidly: on average they are 2.04 times faster and use 67.8% less memory.

In addition, several incentive programs help to strengthen the community and attract new developers and users:

FeeM (Fee Monetization): Apps can earn 90% of the fees they generate
Innovators Fund: $200 million to support applications and drive new initiatives
Airdrop: About $200 million to reward users

Ecosystem Updates

TVL growth: Among the top 25 chains by TVL, only three chains saw an increase last month, with Sonic seeing the largest increase.

 Source: DeFiLlama

FeeM: Over 900,000 $S have been allocated to projects that generate fees on the network, with a value of over $500,000.

An evolving ecosystem

Aave deploys its lending market on the Sonic network. Users can borrow, supply, and earn incentives on Aave. Initial assets include $USDC, $WETH, and $wS. In addition, Sonic and Aave also provide incentives of $15 million and $800,000 respectively to attract users. The newly added market reached the supply cap on the first day.

Llamaswap: DefiLlama adds Sonic Labs to the list of supported chains. Users can use DefiLlama to exchange tokens more efficiently.

Trust Wallet also announced the integration of Sonic (S), allowing users to manage assets on the Sonic chain within the wallet, including sending, receiving and storing native S tokens and tokens issued based on Sonic.

In addition, Jumper is also launched on Sonic, and users can bridge tokens to Sonic through Jumper.

Native Project

Shadow Exchange : Shadow Exchange is a DEX platform that uses the (3,3) model that was popular in the last cycle and allows users to earn above-average APY returns on their pools. Shadow is also the 5th highest-grossing DEX in the past 7 days.

Stream Finance : Stream Finance is a yield product that grew TVL from 0 to $25M in 10 days thanks to its vault, where users can choose USDC pools with up to 25% APY.

SwapX : SwapX is a DEX built on Algebra and is the first modular AMM with a V4 plugin. Key features include:

Algebra Integral as the main engine
Support modular upgrades to add new features without disrupting liquidity while retaining user self-custody rights.
VE(3,3) Token Model

Hand of God : Hand of God is an AI-driven DeFi protocol inspired by the original Tomb Finance model that optimizes governance through real-time data analysis. The current TVL is approximately $19 million.

Eggs Finance : Eggs Finance is a DeFi protocol that allows users to mint $EGGS with $S, use $EGGS as collateral to borrow more $S, and maximize leverage strategies.

Metropolis : Metropolis is a DLMM-powered DEX that combines AMM and order book capabilities to enable zero-slippage trading and high APY returns.