In a significant development within the crypto sphere, the native token of Layer 1 blockchain Fantom, denoted as FTM, has undergone an extraordinary surge, propelling its valuation by an astounding 194% in a span of merely four weeks. This remarkable ascent firmly establishes FTM as the premier non-meme cryptocurrency among the top 100 digital assets by market capitalization.
According to CoinMarketCap, FTM’s price has soared from a modest $0.40 to an impressive $1.24, marking its highest valuation since April 2022. As of press time, FTM is trading at $1.22, reflecting an impressive surge of 16.41% within the past 24 hours and a substantial increase of 64.64% over the last 7 days.
Investor enthusiasm towards Fantom has been reignited by the impending Sonic upgrade, which is expected to significantly enhance transaction processing speeds. Sonic’s mainnet is scheduled to replace the current Opera platform this spring, and its arrival has been highly anticipated since its testnet launch in October of last year.
During the closed testnet phase, which simulated various traffic scenarios, Sonic showcased an impressive maximum theoretical throughput of 2,000 transactions per second (TPS), coupled with a strikingly low time to the finality of just 1.1 seconds. This stands in stark contrast to the current throughput of the Opera mainnet, which languishes at a mere 3.2 transactions per second.
Beyond sheer speed, the upgrade also introduces the Fantom Virtual Machine (FVM), designed to substantially enhance the execution speed of smart contracts. By seamlessly translating code from the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) format, the FVM ensures backward compatibility, facilitating a smooth transition for developers. This opens the door for popular Ethereum-based decentralized applications to effortlessly migrate to the Fantom ecosystem.
A well-known research platform, Reflexivity Research has published a report that highlighted Fantom Sonic’s potential to bring transformation across different industries. The report emphasized the potential of Fantom Sonic in decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, blockchain gaming, high-frequency applications, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The enhanced throughput and efficiency of the technology promise to optimize DeFi operations, improve gaming experiences, enable microtransactions, and enhance the security of data exchanges within the IoT realm.
Despite the palpable excitement surrounding the impending upgrade, investor interest in Fantom’s decentralized finance ecosystem has yet to experience a notable resurgence. This observation underscores cryptocurrency markets’ dynamic and evolving nature, where technological advancements often precede broader market recognition and adoption.
