Fantom

Fantom, operated by Fantom Foundation Ltd., is a public smart contract blockchain platform. Its main network, Opera, is described by the company as achieving roughly 2,000 transactions per second with approximately one-second finality and average transaction costs of less than $0.01. The design uses asynchronous transaction confirmation, which the company states allows scalability without additional infrastructure layers such as layer 2 rollups. The network's native asset is the FTM token, which is used for staking to secure the chain and earn rewards.

The platform hosts DeFi, gaming and NFT decentralized applications; the company's site cites more than 250 active dApps on its homepage and more than 300 active dApps with 48,692 daily transactions on its introductory page, and states it serves more than 200 app partners. Supporting infrastructure includes the FTMScan and Fantom block explorers, the fWallet wallet, a GraphQL API, developer tooling, and third-party bridges (Wormhole, LayerZero, Squid Router) for moving assets onto the network.

Fantom is transitioning to a successor chain, Sonic. FTM tokens are exchangeable for the new S token at a 1:1 ratio following a governance vote approving interoperability between the two tokens, and Opera is to remain supported for holders who retain FTM. Sonic Labs has since announced that the Opera network will cease operations on 30 June 2026, with on-chain data and historical records remaining accessible and the ERC-20 FTM-to-S conversion path and Sonic Gateway continuing to operate.

Business model

Fantom Foundation develops and maintains an open-source layer 1 blockchain and its surrounding tooling, with the FTM token serving as the network's currency for transaction fees and staking. Developer incentives include a Gas Monetization program that returns 15% of the gas fees a dApp generates to that dApp, and periodically announced grant programs.

Traction

Company figures cite over 250 to over 300 active dApps, more than 200 app partners, and 48,692 daily transactions, with sub-$0.01 average transaction costs and ~1-second finality. Third-party data lists 64 employees and estimated revenue of $8M–$20M.

Latest developments

In May 2024 the Fantom Foundation announced the creation of the Sonic Foundation, which will handle governance and treasury for the Sonic chain, and Sonic Labs, which will focus on decentralized application development, alongside a $10 million strategic funding round led by Hashed intended to support strategic growth and ecosystem development, including liquidity for blue-chip pools on automated market makers and money markets to attract users from Ethereum and layer 2 networks. Sonic is planned to have a native layer 2 bridge to Ethereum and to act as a shared sequencer producing and securing blocks for multiple rollups. Sonic Labs has announced that the Fantom Opera network will cease operations on 30 June 2026 at 17:00 GMT as legacy infrastructure is retired, and users are advised to complete asset migrations before that date.