Sonic Labs Secures Approval for $200M for TradFi Move

Sonic Labs has secured overwhelming community approval for $200 million worth of investment for its native S tokens. The firm is best known for developing Sonic layer-1 blockchain and their new initiative is expected to be paving way for further bridging the gap between traditional finance (TradFi), U.S. capital markets, and blockchain.

According to the proposal shared by the company, 99.99% of the S token holders voted in favor of this initiative. These holders collectively have more than 700 million S tokens. Their vote, cast from 105 wallets, met the quorum threshold. If successful, the initiative will help merge blockchain innovation with Wall Street-style financial vehicles.

Sonic Labs Secures $200M Investment Approval

Sonic plans to divide the new token issuance across several initiatives. Roughly $100 million in S tokens will go toward building a strategic reserve for a Nasdaq PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) structure. Another $50 million is earmarked for an exchange-traded product (ETP) tracking the S token, to be managed by a “top-tier ETF provider” with over $10 billion in assets under management. Custody services will be provided by BitGo.

The company will also launch Sonic USA LLC, a New York-based entity that will hire a U.S.-based CEO and team to spearhead regulatory engagement and oversee its TradFi ventures. To secure operations, Sonic intends to allocate 150 million S tokens, valued at $47.7 million, to the new subsidiary.

Sonic, which rebranded from the Fantom Opera network in December 2024, swapped Fantom’s FTM tokens for S tokens at a 1:1 ratio. However, the foundation’s small holdings, less than 3% of total supply, left little flexibility for strategic investments.

In its proposal, Sonic criticized its “2018 tokenomics,” arguing that it lacked the reserve capacity that rival layer-1 and layer-2 networks enjoy, often retaining up to 50% of supply for growth initiatives. This shortfall, Sonic said, prevented it from seizing opportunities such as early partnerships with GameStop, Robinhood, and Polymarket. “We have 2018 tokenomics. We need 2025 tokenomics,” the team stated.

To protect holders, Sonic pledged to counterbalance the new issuance by burning a larger portion of gas fees, creating deflationary pressure on supply and reducing long-term inflation.

The S token has struggled since its January launch, dropping nearly 69% according to CoinGecko. Sonic's executives think that the TradFi growth, together with changes to the tokenomics, will boost confidence and make the project a strong competitor in both blockchain and capital markets.

Separately, Sonic was recently listed as a participant in a U.S. Department of Commerce program aimed at publishing economic data onchain. Sonic will work with Chainlink and Pyth oracles to let developers access GDP and inflation statistics directly on the blockchain. This could lead to new era of trading and lending apps.