Deep Dive
1. Pectra Mainnet Compatibility (3 November 2025)
Overview: Sonic’s mainnet now fully integrates Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade, enabling compatibility with 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) like account abstraction and gas optimizations.
This upgrade leverages SonicVM for faster EVM execution while maintaining sub-second finality. Developers can deploy Ethereum-native smart contracts seamlessly, expanding Sonic’s use cases in DeFi and institutional applications.
What this means: This is bullish for Sonic because it strengthens interoperability with Ethereum, attracting developers and users seeking high-speed, low-cost alternatives. (Source)
2. Fee Monetization System (12 November 2025)
Overview: A tiered rewards system allocates 10% of fees to validators, 15–90% to app builders, and burns the remainder to create deflationary pressure on $S.
The update introduces Sonic Improvement Proposals (SIPs) to streamline governance and aligns long-term incentives between developers and tokenholders.
What this means: This is neutral-to-bullish for Sonic as it balances supply reduction with ecosystem growth, though adoption hinges on network activity. (Source)
3. Mandatory Node Upgrade (3 November 2025)
Overview: All nodes (validators, RPC providers, exchanges) were required to upgrade to v2.1.2 by 3 November 2025 to implement native fee subsidies and security patches.
The upgrade ensured uninterrupted participation in the Pectra-compatible mainnet, with unupgraded nodes losing rewards and transaction access.
What this means: This is neutral for Sonic, as it maintains network integrity but highlights centralization risks if node operators lag. (Source)
Conclusion
Sonic’s codebase prioritizes Ethereum compatibility, developer incentives, and network resilience. The Pectra upgrade and FeeM system position $S as a scalable, deflationary asset—but will adoption keep pace with token burns? Monitor developer activity and fee-burn ratios for clues.