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Sonic Boom: Can Fantom’s Upgrade Spark a Rally?

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After recognizing in our recent newsletter, that this cycle is one characterized by upgrades, we want to dedicate this newsletter to an upgrade we’re especially curious about: Fantom’s migration to Sonic brewing this quarter.

After recognizing in our recent newsletter, that this cycle is one characterized by upgrades, we want to dedicate this newsletter to an upgrade we’re especially curious about: Fantom’s migration to Sonic brewing this quarter.

Fantom, despite its longevity in the blockchain space, has faced challenges and setbacks since the previous market cycle. While key metrics such as active users and Total Value Locked (TVL) have declined, the network’s upcoming upgrade presents a promising opportunity for revitalization, which is what we’ll focus on here.

What is Fantom?

Launched in 2018, Fantom is a highly scalable platform that aimed to compete with Ethereum and other smart-contract rivals. In December 2019, Fantom’s Opera mainnet launched as a compatible blockchain with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This means it’s interoperable with Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains, such as Polygon, and Ethereum-scaling solutions like Arbitrum. With a mission to solve the blockchain trilemma, Fantom aims to create a secure and efficient global app store.

Figure 1 – Fantom in the Layers

Source: 21Shares

The Lachesis consensus mechanism is what makes Fantom’s blockchain fast and scalable. Its asynchronous and leaderless design enables validators to process transactions concurrently without waiting for prior block confirmations. This parallel processing architecture is what allows Fantom to achieve near-instant transaction finality.

What is the native cryptoasset FTM used for?

Staking

• Governance

• Gas fees

With over 400 projects deployed on its network, Fantom’s adoption is mainly driven by its transaction throughput, 30 transactions per second (TPS), coupled with low fees, as shown below.

Figure 2 – Fantom’s Average Transaction Fee

Source: 21Shares, Fantom Explorer

Offering faster settlement than Ethereum (1-2 seconds) along with its EVM compatibility, meaning that developers can migrate their applications seamlessly from Ethereum, made Fantom grow to attract a total of over 179M unique addresses. At the peak of Fantom’s activity, it had almost $8B in TVL, as shown below.

Figure 3 – Fantom’s Total Value Locked

Source: 21Shares, DeFiLlama

However, Fantom’s TVL took a deep dive in April 2022 and has been sluggish ever since, suffering from several headwinds including the Terra Luna and FTX collapse in 2022 and the Multichain bridge hack in 2023.

On July 7, 2023, Multichain cross-chain bridge protocol experienced a significant security breach, resulting in unusually large and unauthorized withdrawals. The exploit led to losses exceeding $125M, with nearly $120M of that total coming from Multichain’s Fantom bridge. On its part, Fantom learned from its hard-learned lesson and has been working on a decentralized solution for that problem, which we’ll explore later in this report.

While the hack did not permanently cripple Fantom, the FTM token price fell by around 10-15% in the immediate aftermath, causing the TVL to drop by 30%, as users flocked away from the ecosystem.

Why is Fantom up by ~250% over the past year?

Figure 4 – Fantom’s Price Performance

Source: 21Shares, CoinGecko

The anticipation for the new Sonic upgrade has catalyzed investors to start preparing for the new iteration of the network, which will upend blockchain’s capabilities by offering improvements across performance, scalability, and efficiency.

So, What is Sonic?

In December 2023, Fantom launched Sonic Labs, an incubator aimed at empowering developers to create innovative dApps with enhanced performance, in preparation for the launch of the Sonic mainnet, slated for December 2024.

On the token side, $FTM will turn into $S following the mainnet deployment later in the year. Users will be able to swap both tokens at a rate of 1:1.

On a technological level, the rebranding aims to replace the old Opera blockchain with Sonic, which is focused on significantly increasing the network’s speed and settlement time, in addition to making it more decentralized. It also offers an attractive environment that tempts developers to migrate from competing ecosystems. While Opera will remain operational in the short term, Sonic’s compelling rewards and advanced features are poised to catalyze a mass migration, ultimately establishing it as Fantom’s new dominant network, which will then be known as Sonic.

Namely, it would accomplish these goals through the following areas:

Key Enhancements

• Transaction Speed: close to 2,000 transactions per second, almost a 100x improvement from its old benchmark.

• Transaction Finality: expected to occur in under 700 ms, rivaling high-throughput blockchains like Solana and catering to a broader segment of high-velocity applications.

• Storage Optimization: 65% reduction in node storage requirements, promoting network decentralization as it democratizes access to participating in the blockchain’s security by reducing the hardware requirements.

Improved Security and Developer Incentives

• Sonic Gateway: a decentralized bridge connecting Ethereum and Sonic, utilizing both networks’ validators to eliminate single points of failure. It also features a 14-day fail-safe mechanism, allowing users to recover assets on Ethereum if the gateway fails. The new L2 network will address previous security vulnerabilities that were associated with the previous multibridge hack.

• Gas Monetization: up to 90% of gas fees from qualifying dApps will be allocated back to their developers. This encourages applications with high usage to consider migrating from other ecosystems to generate more revenue via this gas-rebate program.

o For transactions related to applications that aren’t eligible under this model: 50% of fees will be burned with 45% distributed to validators, and 5% allocated to the ecosystem vault.

The new developer incentive program has already catalyzed a surge in application deployments on Fantom. Recent data indicates a significant uptick in the number of active developers on the platform, reaching new heights, as seen in Figure 5.

Figure 5 – Fantom Full Time Developers

Source: 21Shares, DeFiLlama

The amount of commits on the network, a concept referring to how many changes a particular app deployment has undergone, has also increased significantly since the announcement in May. In fact, the number of commits has reached a new high – a figure that is almost double the peak of 2021.

Figure 6 – Fantom Commits

Source: 21Shares, DeFiLlama

Both metrics are crucial, as developer activity often precedes wider adoption. As more developers build on a network, they create new use cases and applications, driving user growth and enhancing the blockchain’s overall utility and value proposition.

DeFi Ecosystem Boost

Introduction of a canonical USDC version. Fantom, in partnership with Circle and Wormhole, introduced USDC.e, a bridged version of the widely trusted USDC stablecoin. This strategic move enhances the ecosystem’s security by providing a reliable, trust-minimized bridging solution for the stablecoin. It also mitigates the depegging risks associated with lesser-known stables, addressing vulnerabilities exposed by incidents like the Multichain hack where compromised collateral led to a severe devaluation of bridged assets.

The integration of UDSC.e also lends credibility to the ecosystem, catalyzing a network effect. As high-quality protocols and assets deploy on the platform, it’s likely to attract other reputable DeFi projects, creating a virtuous cycle of ecosystem growth and adoption.

Since Sonic’s announcement in May, Fantom’s ecosystem has shown signs of revival. DEX trading volume has nearly doubled from its lows, despite only $7M in USDC.e being bridged so far. This uptick suggests growing interest, even as the wider DeFi ecosystem on Fantom has yet to emerge.

Figure 7 – Fantom DEX Volume

Source: 21Shares, Dune

The network’s financial landscape isn’t only receiving a boost via its enhanced stablecoin integration, but also through a series of innovative primitives proposed by Andre, the network’s co-founder, to help the blockchain stand out. His most remarkable proposal revolves around introducing credit scores:

• These are being developed on the back of a system that extracts, transforms, and integrates data across blockchains. So far, the foundation has processed over 54B transactions to create a wallet-scoring model without KYC or personal data.

• The goal is to tap into the $11T unsecured lending market, bringing products like payday and personal loans to the DeFi space, while supporting underbanked populations who lack access to conventional credit histories and help in decreasing interest rates.

However, Andre also has been sitting on multiple other primitives including:

• Advanced Oracle: an improved mechanism for robust validation of external data, enabling applications to seamlessly integrate diverse off-chain information sources while minimizing on-chain storage requirements and associated costs.

• Protection markets: an on-chain insurance framework that provides coverage for diverse claims. This system leverages collateralized vaults, strategically deploying assets into yield-generating strategies to create a robust and self-sustaining protection marketplace.

• Leveraged Spot Market: allowing users to deposit arbitrary margin assets to gain access to leveraged investments directly on-chain without relying on centralized parties – all whilst enjoying the trust-minimal aspect of smart-contracts for automatic risk management.

• FX-Swap: a DEX inspired by Curve Finance’s trading model which is optimized for low volatility correlated assets focused on tokenized fiat currencies.

Where is Fantom/Sonic going?

Sonic’s impending launch presents a compelling opportunity for growth, despite current market conditions. The platform’s strategic alignment with Ethereum through the Sonic Gateway, coupled with substantial financial resources ($500M in treasury) and innovative incentive programs, positions it for potential resurgence:

• Sonic Boom: A tiered airdrop program rewarding applications based on their ecosystem contributions. Exclusive protocols receive enhanced allocations.

• Sonic Gems: Users can earn points towards a 190,500,000 $S token airdrop, with 37.5% allocated to Sonic Gem holders.

This leads us to believe that Sonic will likely be able to attract a growing number of developers from across the Ethereum ecosystem. It will be driven by offering enhanced revenue opportunities while contributing to a superior network with high transaction throughput and user-friendly features. For instance, Sonic’s native account abstraction can help onboard new entrants to the blockchain ecosystem.

Finally, Fantom’s user base is currently exceeding the average of approximately 35K recorded over the past year, as depicted below. Thus, we expect the network to continue its growth trajectory over the next few months going into the upgrade.

Figure 8 – Fantom Active Wallet Addresses

Source: 21Shares, Dune

What should investors expect?

For investors looking to gain exposure to the longer tail of the cryptoasset ecosystem and capitalize on the latest developments, 21Shares offers the following Fantom ETP on the European market. This investment product provides a regulated way to capture growth opportunities within this rapidly evolving sector.

The potential transition timeline for 21Shares’ ETP is currently being discussed with 21Shares’ service providers. Investors in this ETP would not need to take any action and would be informed in line with the applicable exchange regulations via official notice prior to the change. We’ve prepared an FAQ for investors wishing to learn more about this upgrade and what it means for our product, so stay tuned.

Figure 9 – 21Shares Fantom ETP

Source: Bloomberg, Data as of September 30, 2024.

Avg. Daily Spread YTD: refers to the best daily average bid/ask spread this year across European exchanges.

What’s happening this week?

Source: Forex Factory, 21Shares

Research Newsletter

Each week the 21Shares Research team will publish our data-driven insights into the crypto asset world through this newsletter. Please direct any comments, questions, and words of feedback to research@21shares.com

Disclaimer

The information provided does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction. Some of the information published herein may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax or other advice and users are cautioned to base investment decisions or other decisions solely on the content hereof.

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Big News for Nuclear Energy—What It Means for Investors

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President Trump signed a new executive order to fast-track U.S. nuclear power development marking another major boost for the sector.

President Trump signed a new executive order to fast-track U.S. nuclear power development marking another major boost for the sector.

In this video, Shawn Reynolds, Portfolio Manager, Global Resources, breaks down what this means for investors and how the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear Technologies UCITS ETF (NUKL) is positioned to benefit through its comprehensive exposure to companies beyond uranium miners.

Handla NUKL ETF

VanEck Uranium and Nuclear Technologies UCITS ETF A (NUKL ETF) är en europeisk börshandlad fond. Denna fond handlas på flera olika börser, till exempel Deutsche Boerse Xetra och London Stock Exchange. Av den anledningen förekommer olika kortnamn på samma börshandlade fond.

Det betyder att det går att handla andelar i denna ETF genom de flesta svenska banker och Internetmäklare, till exempel  Nordnet, SAVR, DEGIRO och Avanza.

To receive more insights, sign up to our email Newsletter.

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Important Disclosure

This content is intended for educational purposes only. Please note that the availability of the products mentioned may vary by country, and it is recommended to check with your local stock exchange.

This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action. Certain statements contained herein may constitute projections, forecasts and other forward-looking statements, which do not reflect actual results, are for illustrative purposes only, are valid as of the date of this communication, and are subject to change without notice. Actual future performance of any assets or industries mentioned is unknown. Information provided by third party sources are believed to be reliable and have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. VanEck does not guarantee the accuracy of third-party data. The information herein represents the opinion of the author(s), but not necessarily those of VanEck or its other employees.

’An investment in the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear Technologies UCITS ETF (NUCL) may be subject to risks which include, but are not limited to, risks related to investments in nuclear energy companies, energy sector, utilities sector, industrials sector, special risk considerations of investing in Asian, Canadian, European and Australian issuers, foreign securities, foreign currency, depositary receipts, small- and medium-capitalization companies, cash transactions, equity securities, market, operational, index tracking, authorized participant concentration, no guarantee of active trading market, trading issues, passive management, fund shares trading, premium/discount and liquidity of fund shares, issuer-specific changes, non-diversified, index-related concentration and high portfolio turnover risks, all of which may adversely affect the Fund. Foreign investments are subject to risks, which include changes in economic and political conditions, foreign currency fluctuations, changes in foreign regulations, and changes in currency exchange rates that may negatively impact the Fund’s return. Small- and medium-capitalization companies may be subject to elevated risks.

Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of a Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus, which contain this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before investing.

No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission of Van Eck Associates Corporation.

© 2025 Van Eck Associates Corporation.

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00XN ETP spårar priset på guld och valutasäkras till euro

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WisdomTree Gold - EUR Daily Hedged (00XN ETP) med ISIN JE00B4RKQV36, spårar priset på terminskontrakt på guld. Valutasäkrad till euro (EUR).

WisdomTree Gold – EUR Daily Hedged (00XN ETP) med ISIN JE00B4RKQV36, spårar priset på terminskontrakt på guld. Valutasäkrad till euro (EUR).

Den börshandlade produktens TER (total cost ratio) uppgår till 0,49 % p.a. WisdomTree Gold – EUR Daily Hedged är den enda ETC som följer Gold Future (EUR Hedged) index. Denna ETC replikerar det underliggande indexets prestanda syntetiskt med en swap.

WisdomTree Gold – EUR Daily Hedged är en mycket liten ETC med tillgångar på 16 miljoner euro under förvaltning. ETCen lanserades den 15 mars 2012 och har sin hemvist i Jersey.

WisdomTree Gold – EUR Daily Hedged är en fullständigt säkerställd, UCITS-godkänd Exchange Traded Commodity (ETC) utformad för att ge investerare en total avkastningsexponering mot guldterminskontrakt som valutasäkras i EUR. ETC syftar till att replikera Bloomberg Gold Sub Euro Hedged Daily Total Return Index (BUGCDET) genom att spåra Bloomberg Gold Sub Euro Hedged Daily Excess Return Index och tillhandahålla ränteintäkterna justerade för att återspegla avgifter och kostnader förknippade med produkten.

Till exempel, om Bloomberg Gold Sub Euro Hedged Daily Total Return Index stiger med 1 % under en dag, kommer denna ETC att stiga med 1 %, exklusive avgifter. Men om Bloomberg Gold Sub Euro Hedged Daily Total Return Index faller med 1 % under en dag, kommer ETC att falla med 1 %, exklusive avgifter.

Index

Bloomberg Gold Subindex Euro Hedged Daily Total Return

Indexet är utformat för att återspegla rörelsen i priset på guldterminskontrakten (som kontinuerligt rullas enligt ett förutbestämt rullande schema) som används i Bloomberg Commodity IndexSM samt att införliva en valutasäkring mot rörelser i EUR/USD-börsen Betygsätta. Valutasäkringen ombalanseras dagligen. Ett terminskontrakt är ett avtal om att köpa en vara till ett överenskommet pris, där leverans och betalning ska ske vid en bestämd tidpunkt i framtiden. Terminskontrakt avyttras i allmänhet strax innan kontraktets löptid löper ut och nya kontrakt ingås för att undvika att ta faktiska leveranser av den aktuella varan (en process som kallas ”rullande”), så att kontinuerlig exponering för råvaran upprätthålls.

Kontrakten som köps kan vara dyrare än kontrakten som säljs, vilket skulle få en investerare i råvaruterminer att göra en ytterligare förlust. Denna marknadstrend kallascontango”. Alternativt kan kontrakten som köps vara billigare än de som säljs, vilket skulle resultera i en ytterligare vinst, känd sombackwardation. Denna prisskillnad kallas vanligtvis ”rullavkastning”. Eftersom rullavkastningen ingår i beräkningen av indexvärdet kan det därför ha en positiv eller negativ inverkan på indexets värde beroende på om det finns contango eller bakåtgång. ETC kommer också att påverkas eftersom dess värde baseras på indexets värde.

Handla 00XN ETP

WisdomTree Gold – EUR Daily Hedged (00XN ETP) är en europeisk börshandlad råvara. Denna fond handlas på flera olika börser, till exempel Deutsche Boerse Xetra och Borsa Italiana.

Det betyder att det går att handla andelar i denna ETC genom de flesta svenska banker och Internetmäklare, till exempel DEGIRONordnet, Aktieinvest och Avanza.

Börsnoteringar

BörsValutaKortnamn
XETRAEUR00XN
gettexEUR00XN
Borsa ItalianaEUREBUL

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NATO-utgiftsökning: Europeiska försvarsaktier och långsiktiga investeringseffekter

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Jane Edmondson, VettaFis chef för indexproduktstrategi på TMXVettaFi, träffade Steve Darling från Proactive för att presentera företagets senaste innovation inom tematiska investeringar: 8RMY Future of Defense ETF som fokuserar på Europeiska försvarsaktier. Den nya fonden följer i kölvattnet av VettaFis mycket framgångsrika ASWC Future Defense UCITS ETF, som nyligen översteg 2,5 miljarder dollar i förvaltat kapital, vilket återspeglar investerarnas intensiva efterfrågan på exponering mot försvarssektorn.

Jane Edmondson, VettaFis chef för indexproduktstrategi på TMXVettaFi, träffade Steve Darling från Proactive för att presentera företagets senaste innovation inom tematiska investeringar: 8RMY Future of Defense ETF som fokuserar på Europeiska försvarsaktier. Den nya fonden följer i kölvattnet av VettaFis mycket framgångsrika ASWC Future Defense UCITS ETF, som nyligen översteg 2,5 miljarder dollar i förvaltat kapital, vilket återspeglar investerarnas intensiva efterfrågan på exponering mot försvarssektorn.

Edmondson förklarade att medan ASWC ETF fokuserar brett på globalt försvar, cyberförsvar och försvarsteknik, är den nya 8RMY Future of Defense ETF mer riktad, med en tydlig inriktning på Europeiska försvarsaktier. ”Nittio procent av indexportföljen är allokerad till europeiska företag”, sa hon och positionerade fonden för att kapitalisera på en massiv våg av försvarsrelaterade investeringar som drivs av en förnyad känsla av brådska inom regional säkerhet.

Denna brådska härrör från Europeiska unionens upprustningsinitiativ på 800 miljarder dollar, vilket inkluderar 650 miljarder euro i försvarsutgifter och ytterligare 150 miljarder euro i kreditfaciliteter under de kommande fyra åren. Dessa åtaganden omformar Europas försvarslandskap och ger näring åt ett starkt investerarintresse för företag som är redo att dra nytta av utgiftsboomen.

För att hjälpa till att överbrygga regionens befintliga teknikklyfta – som uppskattas ligga fem år efter ledande försvarsinnovationer som USA – inkluderar ETFen även utvalda innehav från Sydkorea och Israel. ”Att ha exponering mot länder som Sydkorea och Israel som vanligtvis är mer högteknologiska kan bidra till att överbrygga den klyftan under de kommande åren”, noterade Edmondson och lyfte fram den strategiska inkluderingen av teknikorienterade allierade.

Inför framtiden pekade Edmondson på det kommande NATO-toppmötet i Nederländerna den 24–25 juni, där diskussionerna förväntas inkludera en föreslagen ökning av försvarsutgiftsmålen till 5 % av BNP. Detta nya riktmärke skulle sträcka sig bortom traditionella militära investeringar för att införliva moderna hot och kapaciteter – inklusive cybersäkerhet, artificiell intelligens, infrastrukturens motståndskraft och framväxande försvarstekniker.

Hon betonade vidare de globala försvarsutgifternas styrka, som uppgick till 2,7 biljoner dollar år 2023, varav NATO-medlemmar stod för mer än hälften av den totala summan. Stigande geopolitiska spänningar leder också till betydande ökningar av militärbudgetarna i Asien-Stillahavsområdet, där länder som Sydkorea, Australien, Japan och Indien signalerar högre framtida anslag.

Handla 8RMY ETF

Future of European Defence UCITS ETF (ticker: 8RMY) är en europeisk börshandlad fond. Denna fond handlas på flera olika börser, till exempel Deutsche Boerse Xetra och Euronext Paris. Av den anledningen förekommer olika kortnamn på samma börshandlade fond.

Det betyder att det går att handla andelar i denna ETF genom de flesta svenska banker och Internetmäklare, till exempel  NordnetSAVRDEGIRO och Avanza.

Handla ASWC ETF

HANetf Future of Defence UCITS ETF (ASWC ETF) är en europeisk börshandlad fond. Denna fond handlas på flera olika börser, till exempel Deutsche Boerse Xetra och London Stock Exchange. Av den anledningen förekommer olika kortnamn på samma börshandlade fond.

Det betyder att det går att handla andelar i denna ETF genom de flesta svenska banker och Internetmäklare, till exempel  NordnetSAVRDEGIRO och Avanza.

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