The development of blockchain technology is transforming traditional gaming by integrating DeFi and NFTs, enabling digital asset ownership. However, despite these innovations, scalability remains a significant challenge in Web3 gaming. Rollups have emerged as a promising solution, enhancing blockchain network efficiency by processing off-chain transactions faster and cost-effectively while maintaining security.
Another issue in the Web3 gaming industry is balancing on-chain infrastructure with in-game content and addressing network congestion. With a plethora of blockchain networks supporting Web3 games, one blockchain that has gained significant attention over the years is. Solana. The blockchain has proven scalability and durability due to its virtual machine (SVM), which can process thousands of transactions per second at a low cost.
Morningstar Ventures' portfolio company, Sonic, is the first atomic gaming SVM layer 2 and tackles the abovementioned challenges by integrating SVM into the core of its project. Sonic is the first atomic SVM chain designed to enable sovereign game economies on Solana, aiming to expand the Solana Gaming Ecosystem.
This month’s project review explores Sonic's key features, fundraising efforts, and future roadmap, as well as provides an analysis of the project’s opportunities and potential challenges.
What is Sonic?
Sonic is the first L2 blockchain based on Solana to enable independent game economies, leveraging the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) chain. Sonic is built on top of HyperGrid, a parallel processing framework that enhances Solana’s infrastructure. Sonic introduces customizability and scalability while adhering to the core standards of the Solana blockchain.
Developed by Mirror World Labs, Sonic aims to unlock new opportunities for game developers and players. Sonic combines Solana’s speed with the customizability of game-specific rollups to launch thousands of games onto Web3. Sonic's modular architecture empowers developers to create tailored blockchain economies by integrating their chosen game engine and virtual machine. Sonic also offers integrated payment, settlement, and user engagement tools crucial for building successful Web3 games. Ultimately, Sonic seeks to expand the Solana Gaming Ecosystem, enabling games to process millions of requests per second and settle them back onto Solana’s L1.
Since Sonic’s launch in March 2024, the project has already onboarded several top-tier partners from the wider crypto space, including Solana, Helius, OKX, MoonPay, and more. Furthermore, the project has two avenues for games and developers within Web3 to join its ecosystem. Below is a high-level overview of Sonic’s ecosystem.
The team launched on Testnet in June 2024. Since then, the project has already reached significant milestones, boasting over 2 million monthly active wallet participants generating more than 600 million transactions. Sonic Origins, the first phase of Sonic's testnet, focused on optimizing the scalability and performance of its L2 network. It attracted a record number of users who conducted hundreds of millions of transactions while interacting with games on the platform. Now, the project has entered its next phase, Sonic Frontier, which will onboard more ecosystem partners and integrate over 10 new games, expanding user interaction with the Sonic SVM testnet.
Products: Gaming SVM and HyperGrid
Sonic is built to enable scalable, sovereign game economies on Solana, utilizing several key technologies and products that enhance performance, customizability, and user experience. As mentioned above, Sonic's core is HyperGrid, Solana's first concurrent scaling framework. HyperGrid provides a scalable, customizable infrastructure that allows multiple games and applications to operate simultaneously without compromising performance. It achieves horizontal scaling by parallelizing execution across numerous grids, which helps Sonic manage millions of transactions per second and maintain seamless operations, Sonic is built on one of these grids.
Furthermore, the HyperGrid architecture uses a shared sequencer network to coordinate transactions across different grids and settle on the Solana mainnet. This design allows for atomic interoperability, meaning transactions can be processed across different grids consistently and reliably.
Here is how the HyperGrid Works:
HyperGrid operates under two main components:
- Grids: Configurable SVM rollups for optimized performance
- HyperGrid Shared State Network (HSSN): Shared validator network for deployed Grids. It provides an interoperability interface for Grids and serves as a consensus layer for Grids that seek to securely roll up state transitions to Solana.
With these components, the HyperGrid has a transaction flow from the grid to the user. This is how it works:
- Execution: Transactions are ingested and executed by the Grid.
- Compression: State transitions are rolled up and compressed.
- Proof Generation: Proofs are created for each slot, with root state hashes committed for each block.
- Proof Commitment: Proofs are sent to HSSN to prevent state collisions and ensure validation on Solana.
The main reasons the team built Sonic on HyperGrid were due to the following features:
- Horizontal Scaling
- Game-Specific SVM
- Custom SVM Runtimes
- Atomic Interoperability
Learn more in the team's extensive X Thread here: https://x.com/SonicSVM/status/1823192786163863851
The team also aims to integrate this technology into its next Testnet phase, where the latest version of HyperGrid will be deployed, enhancing the network's ability to handle millions of requests per second that are settled on Solana L1. This phase will also see the addition of more validators through the HSSN and introduce a whitelisting process for new projects, developers, and users. Upon completion, Sonic SVM will move towards its mainnet launch, signaling a significant step forward for Web3 gaming on Solana.
Team and Fundraising
Sonic’s team is led by Founder and CEO Chris Zhu, whose professional background was shaped at top tech companies such as BydeDance (aka TikTok) and a generative AI startup based in Silicon Valley. Chris has built Sonic and assembled a team of experts who are all driven to create a stronger solution for the Solana gaming ecosystem.
In June 2024, Sonic raised $12 million to further develop and expand within the Solana gaming ecosystem. Bitkraft led the round, which included participation from Galaxy Interactive, Big Brain Holdings, Morningstar Ventures, and others. The $12M fundraise follows an earlier $4M seed round raised in 2022, bringing total fundraising to $16M.
Analysis
Strengths
- There is a growing demand for blockchain-based / Web3 games, not just in Web3 but in the wider gaming industry. As more gamers and developers look for stable infrastructure solutions to build their games on, Sonic’s SVM Layer 2 may offer a great solution, especially for builders already present in the Solana ecosystem. Furthermore, the HyperGrid technology focuses on horizontal scalability and interoperability – two imperative features for blockchain games.
- Solana is a fast-growing ecosystem with a fully diluted market cap of $83 Billion, making it the 5th largest blockchain, right after BNB. Furthermore, Solana has made strong strides in growing its ecosystem and targeting younger audiences, such as GenZ and GenAlpha, a growing and more crypto-native demographic. The technological acumen of these generations is a great opportunity for the Solana ecosystem to continue on its growth trajectory, which is ultimately beneficial for Sonic.
- Sonic benefits from being backed by Mirror World Labs’ in-house infrastructure, allowing seamless integration, optimized performance, and enhanced security. This setup enables smoother development and faster operations while reducing vulnerabilities. Additionally, MirrorWorld's control over the tech stack facilitates rapid innovation, allowing for quick implementation of new features and improvements. The in-house infrastructure also offers cost efficiency by avoiding third-party services and provides flexibility.
Challenges
- The gaming sector is highly competitive, and many blockchain ecosystems are understanding the opportunity to become the blockchain for game development. Because of this, a potential challenge for the team would be attracting games to build on Sonic instead of other Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions.
What’s Next for Sonic?
In the upcoming months, the team will continue working on new features and versions of its Testnet, with, for example, the launch of the Sonic Frontier, which will see the launch of the HyperGrid. Furthermore, the team is looking to continue expanding its ecosystem of partners and games and find more members for its team.
Furthermore, the team also has an ambassador program to recruit passionate members of their community who want to contribute to Sonic by promoting the project, expanding its influence, and engaging with other global communities. Ambassadors will be responsible for writing content, hosting events, managing social media, and producing videos. They will receive support and resources from the Sonic team, which will significantly enhance the community's interaction and growth.
Ambassadors will benefit from marketing collaborations, event sponsorships, exclusive rewards, and direct access to the Sonic team. The program also offers opportunities to attend Sonic-related events, receive Sonic-branded merchandise, and gain recognition within the community. The program is open to anyone interested in helping shape the future of Sonic and the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM).
Learn more and apply here: https://sonic-svm.typeform.com/ambassador?typeform-source=blog.sonic.game
Learn more about Sonic
🌐 Official website: https://www.sonic.game/
🐦 Official Twitter: https://x.com/SonicSVM
🕹️ Discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/joinmirrorworld
📖 Whitepaper: https://docs.sonic.game/
