Sonic
Sonic, originally launched as Fantom in June 2018 by the Fantom Foundation and now rebranded, is a high-performance public blockchain network. It leverages a unique consensus mechanism called Lachesis and supports its native cryptocurrency, FTM. Sonic is designed to power decentralized applications (dApps), smart contracts, and fast transactions, using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Solidity for development.
Sonic emphasizes rapid transaction processing, low costs, and scalability, making it an attractive choice for both developers and enterprises. Unlike traditional blockchain systems, Sonic’s Lachesis consensus delivers near-instant finality and high throughput without sacrificing decentralization.
Mainnet and testnet
SettleMint supports the Sonic Mainnet and the Sonic Testnet.
The Mainnet is the primary public Sonic network, where real-value transactions take place. Each transaction incurs a fee, payable in FTM, the native cryptocurrency. The Testnet, conversely, is a development environment for testing and experimentation. Testnet FTM has no real-world value, allowing developers to experiment freely without financial risk.
You can view the Testnet as a sandbox for prototyping and the Mainnet as the live production network, akin to staging versus production environments in software development.
Consensus mechanism
Sonic utilizes the Lachesis consensus algorithm, an asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerant (aBFT) protocol built on a directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure. This approach offers several key benefits:
High Throughput: Sonic can handle thousands of transactions per second.Near-Instant Finality: Transactions are confirmed in seconds, ensuring quick settlement.Security: The aBFT design provides robust protection against malicious actors.
In Lachesis, nodes process transactions independently and share updates asynchronously through a gossip protocol. This allows the network to reach consensus rapidly and efficiently, maintaining decentralization and resilience. Validators stake FTM to participate, with penalties for misbehavior, ensuring network integrity while keeping energy use minimal compared to Proof of Work systems.
More information can be found on the official Sonic website.