HTX Research Latest Research Report丨Sonic: A Case Study of the New DeFi Paradigm
While the industry was still embroiled in the Layer 2 scaling debate, Sonic offered a new answer through a "foundational revolution." Recently, HTX Research released its latest research report "Sonic: A Blueprint for the DeFi New Paradigm," detailing the new public chain Sonic. While fully compatible with the EVM, Sonic has achieved a throughput of over 2000 TPS, 0.7-second transaction finality, and a transaction cost of 0.0001 USD, outperforming mainstream Layer 1 solutions and even surpassing most Layer 2 solutions. The performance-boosting Sonic is reshaping public chain infrastructure, officially ushering in the "sub-second era" of public chains.

Sonic's Road to Innovation: 2000+ TPS, 0.7s Finality, Nearly Zero Cost
As a high-performance public chain based on a Directed Acyclic Graph (aDAG), Fantom Opera initially stood out for its high throughput and fast confirmation capabilities. However, as the on-chain ecosystem expanded, the limitations of its traditional EVM architecture became increasingly apparent: state storage expansion, slow node synchronization, and constrained execution efficiency. To address this, Fantom introduced the new upgrade solution Sonic, aimed at achieving performance leaps through fundamental reconstruction without relying on sharding or Layer 2.
Led by the restructured Sonic Labs, Sonic's core development team brought together top industry talents, including CEO Michael Kong, CTO Andre Cronje (founder of Yearn Finance), and Chief Research Officer Bernhard Scholz. Over a period of two and a half years, the team comprehensively optimized from the virtual machine, storage engine to the consensus mechanism, ultimately creating the standalone new chain Sonic. While being EVM-compatible, Sonic has achieved over 2000 TPS, 0.7-second finality, $0.0001 transaction cost, a 90% improvement in storage efficiency, and reduced node synchronization time from weeks to within two days.
Technological Breakthrough: A Triad Performance Leap
· SonicVM: The new virtual machine dynamically compiles EVM bytecode, caches high-frequency operations (such as SHA3 hashing), and pre-analyzes jump instructions, improving execution efficiency several times over to support high-throughput demands.
· SonicDB: Using a layered storage design, it separates real-time state (LiveDB) from historical data (ArchiveDB), compressing storage space by 90%, reducing node maintenance thresholds, and enhancing decentralization.
· Sonic Gateway: A Layer 2-like cross-chain bridge to Ethereum, balancing security and efficiency through a batch processing mechanism, supporting bi-directional asset migration, and seamless integration with the Ethereum ecosystem.
Tokenomics: Dual Incentives for Developers and Users
Sonic introduces its native token S, exchanged 1:1 with the old token FTM, undertaking functions such as gas payment and governance staking. Its innovative mechanisms include:
· Gas Fee Monetization (FeeM): Developers can receive up to 90% of transaction fee sharing, incentivizing ecosystem app innovation; non-FeeM apps have 50% of fees burned to deter inflation.
· Point Airdrop System: Users earn points (Passive/Activity Points and Gems) through holding tokens, participating in DeFi, or ecosystem interactions, redeemable for a total of 200 million S tokens, creating a "usage is mining" positive feedback loop.
Stablecoin Ecosystem: Nested Yields and Counter-trend Growth
During the market downturn in 2025, Sonic's on-chain TVL grew over 500% against the trend, with stablecoin volume surpassing $260 million, driven by high-leverage yield strategies:
· Silo v2 Recurring Borrowing: Pledge S tokens to borrow stablecoins, leverage up to 20x, capturing multiple points and spread yields.
· Euler+Rings Combination: Deposit USDC to mint overcollateralized stablecoin scUSD, leverage up to 10x, while receiving Sonic points and protocol airdrops.
· Shadow DEX Liquidity Mining: Provide liquidity for mainstream trading pairs, earning up to 169% APY and receiving a share of trading fees.
The ecosystem's future plans involve introducing Real World Asset (RWA) yields and off-chain payment scenarios, expanding through compliant asset backing and consumer app integration, establishing a sustainable stablecoin utility loop.
DeFi Infrastructure Innovation: Adaptive AMM and Dynamic Risk Management
Sonic's core DEX, FlyingTulip, designed by Andre Cronje, integrates trading, lending, and leverage functions, with key technological breakthroughs including:
· Adaptive AMM Curve: Combining Curve V2's liquidity aggregation advantage, introducing external oracle monitoring of volatility, dynamically adjusting the curve shape—close to a constant-product curve during low volatility (low slippage), and approaching a constant-product curve during high volatility (preventing liquidity depletion), reducing impermanent loss by 42%, and improving capital efficiency by 85%.
· Dynamic LTV Lending Model: Drawing inspiration from Curve's LLAMA liquidation mechanism but dynamically adjusting the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio based on market volatility. For example, the ETH collateral loan-to-value ratio can plummet from 80% during calm periods to 50% during volatile periods, reducing systemic risk.
Conclusion: The Significance of DeFi 2.0
With its triple advantage of "high performance + nested yield + low threshold," Sonic is expected to exceed $2 billion in TVL within 12 months, and its token S may impact billions of dollars in market capitalization. Its model has established a new paradigm for the industry: replacing liquidity speculation with on-chain efficiency and real returns, potentially triggering a fundamental shift in the logic of public chain competition.
Potential risks are concentrated at the technical level, including the Adaptive AMM relying on an external oracle, which could result in liquidity pool anomalies if the price feed is attacked. High-leverage strategies face liquidation risks during extreme market conditions and require hedging tools (such as perpetual contract shorts) to manage volatility.
From a macro perspective, Sonic is poised to be the dark horse in the 2025 DeFi revival wave, with the success of its stablecoin ecosystem creating broad upside potential for the ecosystem token S and overall network value. Sonic's rise validates a key proposition: even in a bear market, through mechanism innovation and performance breakthroughs, DeFi can still build a "yield fortress" to attract rational capital for long-term retention. Its nested yield model, developer incentive system, and efficient infrastructure provide the industry with a reusable template. If successfully integrated with RWAs and payment scenarios, Sonic may become a bridge connecting on-chain yield with real economic demand, propelling DeFi into a new stage of mass adoption.
To read the full report, please visit: https://square.htx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/HTX-Research-Latest-Report.pdf
About HTX Research
HTX Research is the dedicated research arm of HTX Group, responsible for in-depth analysis of a wide range of areas including cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and emerging market trends. HTX Research produces comprehensive reports, offers professional evaluations, and is committed to providing data-driven insights and strategic foresight. It plays a key role in shaping industry perspectives and supporting informed decision-making in the digital asset space. With rigorous research methods and cutting-edge data analysis, HTX Research always remains at the forefront of innovation, driving industry thought leadership and facilitating a deep understanding of the evolving market dynamics.
This article is a contributed piece and does not represent the views of BlockBeats
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Mixin has launched USTD-margined perpetual contracts, bringing derivative trading into the chat scene.
The privacy-focused crypto wallet Mixin announced today the launch of its U-based perpetual contract (a derivative priced in USDT). Unlike traditional exchanges, Mixin has taken a new approach by "liberating" derivative trading from isolated matching engines and embedding it into the instant messaging environment.
Users can directly open positions within the app with leverage of up to 200x, while sharing positions, discussing strategies, and copy trading within private communities. Trading, social interaction, and asset management are integrated into the same interface.
Based on its non-custodial architecture, Mixin has eliminated friction from the traditional onboarding process, allowing users to participate in perpetual contract trading without identity verification.
The trading process has been streamlined into five steps:
· Choose the trading asset
· Select long or short
· Input position size and leverage
· Confirm order details
· Confirm and open the position
The interface provides real-time visualization of price, position, and profit and loss (PnL), allowing users to complete trades without switching between multiple modules.
Mixin has directly integrated social features into the derivative trading environment. Users can create private trading communities and interact around real-time positions:
· End-to-end encrypted private groups supporting up to 1024 members
· End-to-end encrypted voice communication
· One-click position sharing
· One-click trade copying
On the execution side, Mixin aggregates liquidity from multiple sources and accesses decentralized protocol and external market liquidity through a unified trading interface.
By combining social interaction with trade execution, Mixin enables users to collaborate, share, and execute trading strategies instantly within the same environment.
Mixin has also introduced a referral incentive system based on trading behavior:
· Users can join with an invite code
· Up to 60% of trading fees as referral rewards
· Incentive mechanism designed for long-term, sustainable earnings
This model aims to drive user-driven network expansion and organic growth.
Mixin's derivative transactions are built on top of its existing self-custody wallet infrastructure, with core features including:
· Separation of transaction account and asset storage
· User full control over assets
· Platform does not custody user funds
· Built-in privacy mechanisms to reduce data exposure
The system aims to strike a balance between transaction efficiency, asset security, and privacy protection.
Against the background of perpetual contracts becoming a mainstream trading tool, Mixin is exploring a different development direction by lowering barriers, enhancing social and privacy attributes.
The platform does not only view transactions as execution actions but positions them as a networked activity: transactions have social attributes, strategies can be shared, and relationships between individuals also become part of the financial system.
Mixin's design is based on a user-initiated, user-controlled model. The platform neither custodies assets nor executes transactions on behalf of users.
This model aligns with a statement issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 13, 2026, titled "Staff Statement on Whether Partial User Interface Used in Preparing Cryptocurrency Securities Transactions May Require Broker-Dealer Registration."
The statement indicates that, under the premise where transactions are entirely initiated and controlled by users, non-custodial service providers that offer neutral interfaces may not need to register as broker-dealers or exchanges.
Mixin is a decentralized, self-custodial privacy wallet designed to provide secure and efficient digital asset management services.
Its core capabilities include:
· Aggregation: integrating multi-chain assets and routing between different transaction paths to simplify user operations
· High liquidity access: connecting to various liquidity sources, including decentralized protocols and external markets
· Decentralization: achieving full user control over assets without relying on custodial intermediaries
· Privacy protection: safeguarding assets and data through MPC, CryptoNote, and end-to-end encrypted communication
Mixin has been in operation for over 8 years, supporting over 40 blockchains and more than 10,000 assets, with a global user base exceeding 10 million and an on-chain self-custodied asset scale of over $1 billion.

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