Sonic Surges to $1 Billion TVL in 66 Days Amid DeFi Market Slump

The crypto market in 2025 is facing intense turbulence. The capitalization of once-hot trends like meme coins has plummeted. Capital has flowed out of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, driving DeFi’s total value locked (TVL) down from $120 billion to around $87 billion.

In this context, Sonic stands out. It has consistently hit new TVL highs, reaching $1 billion in April after growing nearly 40 times since the beginning of the year. So, what makes Sonic a bright spot amid a stormy market?

Investors Are Pouring Capital into Sonic

Sonic has made its mark with a rapid TVL growth rate, far outpacing better-known blockchains. According to DefiLlama, Sonic reached $1 billion in TVL within 66 days. In comparison, Sui took 505 days, and Aptos needed 709.

This achievement reflects strong capital inflows into the Sonic ecosystem despite the broader DeFi trend of capital withdrawal. Data from Artemis supports this, ranking Sonic as the second-highest netflow protocol this year—trailing only Base, a blockchain backed by Coinbase.

The growth goes beyond TVL numbers. Sonic’s ecosystem is attracting various projects, including derivatives exchanges like Aark Digital and Shadow Exchange and protocols such as Snake Finance, Equalizer0x, and Beets. These projects still have small TVLs, but they have the potential to draw new users and capital, fueling Sonic’s momentum.

However, the question remains: Can this capital inflow remain sustainable while the market fluctuates?

Andre Cronje on Sonic’s Potential and Strengths

Andre Cronje, the developer behind Sonic, shared his ambition in an interview to push this blockchain beyond its competitors.

“Sonic has sub-200 millisecond finality, faster than human responsiveness,” Andre Cronje said.

According to Cronje, Sonic isn’t just about speed. The platform also focuses on improving both user and developer experience. He explained that 90% of transaction fees go to dApp, not to validators, creating incentives for developers to build.

Unlike other blockchains, such as Ethereum, which are limited by long block times, Sonic leverages an enhanced virtual machine that theoretically processes up to 400,000 transactions per second. Cronje acknowledges, however, that current demand has yet to push the network to its full capacity. Still, these technical advantages make Sonic a compelling option for developers seeking more user-friendly dApps.

He also revealed new features on Sonic that have the potential to attract users.

“If your first touch point with a user is to download this wallet and then buy this token on an exchange, you’ve lost 99.9% of your users. They’ll use their Google off-email password, fingerprint, face, whatever it is, to access the dApp and interact with it, and they’ll never need to know about Sonic or token,” Andre Cronje revealed.

Risks and Challenges Ahead

Despite reaching impressive milestones, Sonic is not immune to risk. The price of its token, S, has declined significantly from its peak. According to BeInCrypto, it has dropped around 20% in the past month—from $0.60 down to $0.47—mirroring the broader market’s volatility.

Furthermore, Grayscale recently removed Sonic from its April asset consideration list. This decision reflects a shift in the fund’s expectations and raises concerns about Sonic’s ability to maintain its TVL should investor sentiment deteriorate.

Sonic also faces fierce competition from other high-performance chains like Solana and Base. Although Sonic holds a clear advantage in speed, long-term user adoption will depend on whether its ecosystem can deliver real value, not just high TVL figures.