Sonic Labs, the workforce behind the layer-1 Sonic blockchain, has been given the nod to concern $200 million value of its S tokens to increase into the US capital markets, together with the creation of a proposed exchange-traded product and a Nasdaq-listed funding car.
Voting ended on Sunday, with 99.99% of Sonic (S) tokens from 105 wallets used to approve the proposal. The proposal additionally met the required quorum of 700 million S tokens taking part within the vote.
The corporate plans to allocate $100 million in S tokens to construct a strategic reserve for a Nasdaq PIPE (Non-public Funding in Public Fairness) car and $50 million for an S token-tracking ETP issued by a “regulated, top-tier ETF supplier” with over $10 billion in belongings. The fund can be custodied by BitGo, Sonic mentioned.
Sonic mentioned it’ll additionally set up Sonic USA LLC, rent a US-based CEO and workforce in New York to facilitate its TradFi plans and lead engagement in Washington, DC, based on the proposal overview. 150 million S tokens (value $47.7 million) can be used to bootstrap Sonic USA.
Many publicly listed firms have turned to crypto to strengthen their stability sheets, partly by constructing crypto treasuries and investing in spot exchange-traded funds. Sonic’s transfer, nevertheless, flips this script by leveraging conventional monetary devices to turn into extra aggressive within the crypto house.
Sonic wants “2025 tokenomics”
The Sonic chain launched in December 2024, after rebranding from the Fantom Opera community, with Fantom’s FTM tokens swapped for Sonic’s S tokens at a 1:1 ratio as a part of the migration course of.
Nonetheless, the Fantom Basis held lower than 3% of the unique FTM token provide because it most well-liked to purchase its personal token versus promoting it for partnerships.
Sonic mentioned the tokenomics it inherited have prevented it from capitalizing on main alternatives, corresponding to partnering or investing in GameStop, Robinhood and Polymarket, along with earlier token listings on key crypto exchanges. “[The] tokens weren’t accessible when wanted,” it mentioned.
It identified that the majority groups behind layer 1 and 2s blockchains retain 50% of the provision from the preliminary tokenomics for strategic initiatives, however Sonic’s sub-3% allocation has pressured it to buy S tokens within the open market.
“We have now 2018 tokenomics. We want 2025 tokenomics.”
Sonic to make the S token extra deflationary
Sonic additionally plans to offset new S token issuance by updating its fuel charge mechanism and directing a bigger share of transaction charges to be burned, which ought to scale back web inflation and create long-term deflationary strain on the provision.
This manner, “Sonic can play with the large TradFi boys (ETF/PIPE) with out sacrificing holders,” the blockchain firm mentioned.
The S token hasn’t carried out nicely because it launched in January, falling practically 69% since then, based on CoinGecko.
Sonic a part of the US Commerce Dept’s blockchain program
In the meantime, Sonic was listed as a participant within the US Division of Commerce’s program to publish financial knowledge onchain, leveraging Chainlink’s and Pyth’s blockchain oracle companies.
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The transfer signifies that builders can now reference US macroeconomic statistics immediately on Sonic with out having to resort to the Division of Commerce’s web site.
Sonic mentioned the transfer would unlock new innovation on its platform — corresponding to creating buying and selling fashions from gross home product and inflation knowledge and making use of macro indicators for onchain lenders.
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