Sonic Chain: Analyzing the Technical Structure and Ecosystem Scalability of a High-Speed EVM Layer 1 @SonicLabs is a high-performance EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain developed by the Fantom Opera team, implementing ultra-fast transaction processing by combining asynchronous BFT consensus (aBFT) with a DAG-based structure. This network uses its own virtual machine called SonicVM and supports both Solidity and Vyper. The state management is divided into LiveDB and ArchiveDB, reducing the storage space of validator nodes by over 66% through real-time pruning. Validators only store the latest state, while past data is handled by archive nodes. As a result, the node synchronization speed is about 10 times faster than Fantom Opera, significantly reducing operational costs. In terms of performance, Sonic can theoretically achieve up to 400,000 TPS, and in practice, it recorded about 980,000 transactions per day. The block confirmation speed averages around 0.7 seconds, and there have been no reported cases of block reorganization or rollback to date. This performance is made possible by the efficiency of parallel transaction processing and the DAG structure, designed to minimize bandwidth and storage usage. The fee structure operates through a FeeM (Fee Monetization) system, directly allocating up to 90% of the transaction fees generated by approved applications to developers, with the remainder distributed to validators. For unapproved apps, half of the fees are burned, and the rest returns to validators and the ecosystem treasury. This structure is designed to track gas usage in real-time during the block generation process to ensure accurate distribution, maintaining incentives for both developers and validators. The main bottlenecks for Sonic include archive read requests and bandwidth management that can occur in high-performance networks. To address this, a separate infrastructure called Sorada is used to isolate access to archive data, maintaining transaction processing efficiency. Validator nodes must stake a minimum of 50,000 S tokens, and gradual decentralization is underway with 10 initial validator sets. The cross-chain bridge, Sonic Gateway, connects Sonic and Ethereum. This bridge utilizes a validator security structure and Merkle proofs, with transfers from Ethereum to Sonic taking about 10 minutes, and from Sonic to Ethereum taking up to 1 hour. For users desiring fast transactions, there is a Fast Lane option available for an additional fee that allows for immediate transfers. In terms of security, audits have been conducted by OpenZeppelin, Certora, and Quantstamp, and there is a safety mechanism in place to recover assets within 14 days in case of bridge failure. As of Q1 2025, the total number of transactions on Sonic reached 46.8 million, with an average of over 520,000 transactions per day. The TVL stands at $930 million, growing over 3,400% compared to the previous quarter, and the market cap of stablecoins has surpassed $600 million. The trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEX) surged to $10.4 billion, with fee revenue also recording $570,000. The number of users showed a trend of increased revisit rates among existing users, despite a slowdown in the growth rate of new addresses, strengthening the cohesion of the core community. In the DeFi ecosystem, protocols like Shadow Exchange, Aave, Silo, and Beethoven X have established themselves as major contributors to TVL. Sonic is emerging as the next-generation EVM Layer 1 by combining PoS-based aBFT consensus, DAG structure, ultra-low latency block finality, and developer-centric FeeM incentives. While the actual TPS does not reach theoretical levels, considering performance stability, rapid TVL growth, and ongoing validator decentralization, there is significant potential for continuous scalability and ecosystem growth. Therefore, transaction throughput, finality retention rate, validator participation rate, TVL, and DEX trading volume are key indicators to watch for Sonic's long-term health.