The tap-to-earn model first became popular on Telegram and received support from the TON blockchain. Telegram’s setup supports mini-programs with integrated wallets, allowing users to earn rewards by participating in in-app games. Thanks to the TON blockchain and Telegram’s large user base, these games flourished and also stimulated rapid platform growth.
The success of Telegram games, some of which (like Hamster Kombat) have over 300 million players, laid the groundwork. Sonic further advanced this game genre by introducing it on TikTok, attracting a large audience and bringing blockchain gaming to a new crowd. This marks a significant step in Web3 gaming’s mainstream media entry.

What is Sonic?

Sonic is the first Layer-2 blockchain built on Solana, utilizing the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) to realize a sovereign gaming economy. It introduces the HyperGrid scalability architecture, a parallel processing framework designed to enhance Solana’s infrastructure. While adhering to Solana’s core standards, Sonic brings customization and scalability, enabling game developers to efficiently manage game states, logic, and events.

What is SonicX

SonicX is the first TikTok Mini App game launched by Sonic, a tap-to-earn game where players simply tap the screen to collect rings and points. Built on the Sonic SVM chain, each tap is recorded as an on-chain transaction, ensuring a decentralized experience. The game is free, easily accessible, and provides in-game currency rewards that help players level up and enhance their gaming experience. SonicX quickly gained traction on TikTok, accumulating over 120,000 users in just a few months after its launch.

Sonic SVM Mechanism

Sonic SVM is considered a “grid” built on HyperGrid, Solana’s first concurrent scalability framework. HyperGrid offers scalable and customizable infrastructure, allowing multiple games and applications to run simultaneously without compromising performance. It achieves horizontal scaling by executing parallel tasks across multiple grids, helping Sonic manage millions of transactions per second while maintaining seamless operation. Sonic is built on one of these grids.
Moreover, HyperGrid provides an interface for final settlement of transactions on Solana, using a shared sorter network to coordinate transactions between grids and settle them on the Solana mainnet. This design enables atomic interoperability, meaning transactions can be processed consistently and reliably across different grids.
How HyperGrid Works: HyperGrid operates on two main components:

• Grid: Configurable SVM summaries optimized for performance.
• HyperGrid Shared State Network (HSSN): A shared validator network for deployed grids. It provides interoperability interfaces for grids and serves as the consensus layer for grids seeking to securely aggregate state changes to Solana.
  With these components, HyperGrid enables the transaction flow from grids to users. Here’s how it works:

1. Execution: Transactions are received and executed by the grid.
2. Compression: State transitions are rolled up and compressed.
3. Proof Generation: Proofs are generated for each slot and a root state hash is submitted for each block.
4. Proof Commitment: Proofs are sent to the HSSN to prevent state conflicts and ensure verification on Solana.
   

Sonic SVM Funding Background

March 2024: Sonic raised $4 million in seed funding, with investors including Galaxy Interactive, Republic Crypto, and Mirana Venture.
June 2024: Sonic raised $12 million in Series A funding, led by Bitkraft, with participation from Galaxy Interactive, Big Brain Holdings, Matt Sorg (Solana founding team), and Nom (Bonk), among other institutions and individuals.

SONIC Tokenomics

Token Utility

$SONIC is the native utility token of the Sonic SVM ecosystem, supporting Sonic SVM, its applications, and other SVMs launched using the HyperGrid Framework. Its utilities include governance, staking, and payments:

• Payment Currency: Used to purchase in-game assets within Sonic SVM.
• Staking: Powers the network and earns rewards.
• Governance: Influences decisions via $SONIC or $VeSONIC.
• Validator Delegation: Strengthens the HyperGrid Shared State Network (HSSN).

Token Distribution

The total supply of $SONIC is 2.4 billion, with the Token Generation Event (TGE) scheduled for January 7, 2025, and an initial circulation of 15% of the total supply. The initial snapshot for $SONIC claims was completed on December 31, 2024. 7% of the total supply has been allocated for initial claims, and the eligibility checker will go live on January 3, 2025.

• Ecosystem and Community: 30%
• Initial Airdrop: 7%
• Sonic HyperGrid Rewards: 20%
• Foundation: 20%
• Early Supporters: 8%
• Investors: 15%
  
  Gate.io Now Supports $SONIC Spot Trading