TikTok is about to be banned in the United States. How will Sonic SVM’s “bringing TikTok traffic into Web3” be affected?

Author: Zen, PANews

In the Web3 world, traffic entrance often determines the success or failure of a project. As a Layer-2 expansion solution on Solana, Sonic SVM has set its sights on the short video platform TikTok and successfully attracted more than two million players by launching the click-to-earn game SonicX.

In the past "Web3 Game TGE" week, Sonic SVM (SONIC) performed brilliantly. There was no suspicion of fraud or constant decline. After it launched the SONIC token on January 7, it sold for US$1.94 billion the next day. FDV becomes the 9th most valuable L2 token and the only Solana-based L2 token in the top 10. As of January 16, the price of SONIC was approximately US$0.72. The price has been relatively stable since its launch and does not seem to be affected by TikTok’s imminent ban in the United States.

Solana L2 to cope with large-scale adoption of blockchain games

Sonic SVM was created by Mirror World Labs, whose founding team includes CEO Chris Zhu, chief product officer Alan Zhu, and chief technology officer Jonathan Bakebwa. According to public information, Sonic SVM has completed a total of US$16 million in seed and Series A financing, with investors including BITKRAFT, Galaxy Interactive, Big Brain Holdings, Sky9 Capital, OKX Ventures, etc.

As a Layer-2 (L2) scaling solution based on Solana, Sonic SVM (SONIC) aims to improve the efficiency and interoperability of blockchain gaming platforms by providing dedicated block space and improved developer and player tools.

Sonic SVM believes that with the continuous emergence of dAPP, Solana, which has obvious performance advantages, will also face severe challenges. Especially when there are a large number of small games or a single large game, the on-chain interactions of thousands or even millions of users will have a serious impact on the performance of the Solana L1 main chain, especially special operations such as server launches, holiday events, and limited-time promotions. During the event, its instantaneous impact was worrisome. This will not only affect the performance of the entire Solana L1 chain, but also the playability and user experience of each game, including the game's responsiveness and data availability.

In March 2024, Sonic SVM began to officially enter the public eye, using the innovative HyperGrid extension mechanism to seamlessly integrate with Solana to provide high-performance gaming experience and efficient transaction aggregation. Its core features include atomic-level interoperability, the HyperGrid framework for deploying optimistic rollups on Solana, and the Rush ECS framework that simplifies on-chain gaming and autonomous world building. Sonic provides monetization tools for payments, settlement and user acquisition for games and applications.

First application: TikTok click-to-earn game SonicX

In the second and third quarters of 2024, Tap-to-earn mini-games based on Telegram became all the rage in the field of crypto games. This trend started with Notcoin, which was launched at the beginning of the year, and was promoted by Hamster Kombat, which claims to have nearly 300 million player accounts. It reached its peak and finally “collapsed” suddenly after the airdrop in September. Mini-apps that also attract millions or even tens of millions of users on Telegram basically have similar endings.

Against this background, Sonic SVM chose to take a different approach and set its sights on another top traffic pool, TikTok, and launched the click-to-earn game SonicX on the platform in October 2024. The art style of the game also draws on classic video games Sonic The Hedgehog. Much like the mini-programs on Telegram, TikTok allows users to open web pages in their native browser, and players can start playing games and collecting game points after using social login.

SonicX expanded its player base by launching TikTok ads to potential new users. Within a month, it received millions of views, some of which were converted into active users. According to Sonic SVM, the game passed the one million player milestone one month after its launch and currently has over two million users.

After seeing too many Telegram mini-game users, it "easily" exceeds one million, and easily reaches tens of millions. SonicX's one or two million users also seem mediocre. However, since TikTok users need to provide phone numbers and identity verification for KYC, while Telegram does not impose restrictions on this, SonicX users may be relatively "higher quality."

TikTok’s future in the U.S. is uncertain

Sonic SVM's vision for SonicX on TikTok is not just to host games, but to cultivate a Web3 gaming layer that mainstream audiences can access and participate in. Sonic SVM provides developers interested in publishing games on TikTok with the infrastructure to leverage the Sonic Origin and Sonic Frontier networks and easily deploy their games through its guides.

With the smooth implementation of SONIC token generation activities, Sonic SVM believes that TikTok has proven to be an effective user acquisition channel. It hopes to open its business to third-party developers and fund it through SONIC tokens.

However, TikTok's future in the United States is also unclear at the moment. A large number of its American users have recently begun to stage a "cyber Exodus" and flocked to Xiaohongshu to "take refuge." Last year, the U.S. Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Controlled Applications by Foreign Adversaries Act. According to the law, TikTok parent company ByteDance must divest its shares in TikTok before January 19, otherwise it will face a nationwide ban. TikTok has repeatedly stated that it will not sell its US business. According to The Information, TikTok plans to shut down its application for U.S. users on the "deadline date."

TikTok has appealed the law to the Supreme Court, arguing that the ban violated the First Amendment rights of its 170 million U.S. users. On January 10, the Supreme Court heard TikTok's emergency appeal, but the judges seemed inclined to uphold the legislation and wanted it to comply with the deadline. Unless ByteDance complies with the above laws, once the ban is implemented, Apple, Google and web hosting service providers must prevent TikTok from being distributed in the United States. According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, Musk may become the owner of TikTok. Later, TikTok responded, stating that reports of a possible sale to Musk were "pure fiction."

Trump, who is about to officially take office as President of the United States, is also a supporter of TikTok. He said he has a "favorable opinion" of TikTok and vowed to "save" the platform that brought "billions of views" to his campaign. Last month, Trump urged the Supreme Court to delay a ruling until he returns to the White House on January 20. His lawyers submitted a legal brief to the court, saying Trump "opposes a ban on TikTok" and "seeks the ability to resolve current issues through political means after taking office." A week ago, Trump also met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-Lago, who was also invited to attend the presidential inauguration and sit in a "position of honor."

Currently, TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, of which American users account for more than 10%. Judging from the geographical distribution of users of the previously popular click-to-earn game, non-U.S. users of the Sonic SVM ecosystem will account for the vast majority.

Additionally, U.S. users who have downloaded TikTok can theoretically still use the app, but the law also prohibits U.S. companies from providing distribution, maintenance or update services for the app starting Sunday, Reuters reported . TikTok will no longer be able to update its software, which will become more buggy and slower over time.

Sources said the shutdown is intended to protect TikTok's service providers from legal liability and make it easier for TikTok to resume operations if President-elect Donald Trump decides to lift the ban.

In the unclear future of TikTok, Sonic SVM, which serves as a bridge between TikTok users and the Web3 world, is also forced to face certain challenges. However, judging from the recent performance of SONIC token prices, the project side seems to have withstood the test of this round of external influences.