SODAX launches validator on the Sonic blockchain

Summary:

Launched Validator Node on Sonic, helping to secure the Network.
Participating in governance, for further decentralization.
Acquired 3,000,000 $S tokens in the open market for self-staking.
Sonic Labs have joined in delegating a further 3,000,000 $S tokens.
Committed to restaking 100% of validator rewards.

As a former Layer 1 project, we fully understand the importance of decentralization and governance. This is why SODAX is now officially running a validator node on Sonic! We’ve been working on this for a while behind the scenes and are excited to take this next step with Sonic, building the future of cross-chain DeFi while giving back to the ecosystem that makes it all possible.

You can stake with our validator, ID #46, here!

From ICON to SODAX

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know we started out as the ICON project, with our own layer 1 blockchain.

Now we’ve evolved into SODAX, and earlier this year made the call to migrate our DeFi infrastructure over to Sonic, the new hub-chain in our hub-and-spoke cross-chain infra. The Sonic team has been nothing short of incredible during this migration. With strong developer and community support, they’ve helped make the move smoother than we could have hoped. This shouldn’t be a one-way relationship though, so in addition to our ongoing support for Sonic’s in-person events, we felt there was more we could contribute.

Why Validate?

For us it’s simple, if you’re building on a network, you should also help secure it. Every builder who depends on Sonic’s rock-solid blockchain infrastructure, is also reliant on their stability, decentralization, and long-term health. By running a validator, we’re now directly contributing to the hub-chain that our cross-chain DeFi ecosystem relies on. Why wouldn’t we want a stake in it?

Committing to $S

To kick things off, we’ve purchased our own initial 3 million $S self-stake in the open market, at around $0.60 per $S, as a direct investment into the Sonic network’s future. This isn’t a one-and-done; we plan to steadily accumulate more $S, building both our liquidity and our validator stake over time. While validators are often criticised for selling reward tokens to fund operations (something we’ve always considered fair compensation for providing a critical service), we’re in the fortunate position to take a different path. Instead of selling rewards, we’ll be compounding them – growing our holdings and deepening our commitment. For us, it’s about investing in the ecosystem’s growth, not extracting value from the services we provide.

Our Vision with Sonic

The future for SODAX is seamless cross-chain DeFi, with our Unified Liquidity Layer addressing fragmentation with our own Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL), integrations to leading liquidity sources, and routing through intent-based execution. Sonic will be indispensable in this model, acting as our hub-chain on which all book-keeping across 12+ chains is settled, and handling our blockchain infrastructure — so we can focus on connecting chains, protocols, and users without friction. As Sonic supports us, we’re committed to supporting Sonic, with this validator node being just one way we’re putting that into action.

What This Means for You

Depending on who you are, here’s what is coming up from SODAX, our validator node, and our cross-chain infrastructure:

Stronger network decentralization for Sonic — benefiting the whole network.
Access to seamless cross-chain DeFi — with EVM chains and beyond.
A more open playground for builders — with our SODAX SDK, expanding cross-chain with unified liquidity and intents just got way simpler.

This is just the start. With Sonic as our home base, we’re building a future where DeFi flows freely across chains and bringing the whole community with us.