Fantom's native token, FTM, has experienced a surge of over 190% in just four weeks, making it the best-performing non-meme cryptocurrency among the top 100 digital assets by market value. The token's market capitalization has increased to $3.29 billion, making it the 44th largest digital asset in the world. The impending Sonic upgrade for Fantom's layer 1 blockchain, which is expected to increase transaction processing speeds, may have contributed to the rise in investor interest. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has tested $66,000 during Asian trading hours and is expected to face more volatility in the near future.

Fantom (FTM), launched in 2018, is a Layer-1 protocol focused on fast and cost-efficient transaction execution. Fantom became a DeFi hub with development help from Andre Cronje. As a result, Fantom’s network hosts dozens of DeFi protocols, including Equalizer Finance, Beethoven X, and SpookySwap. In addition to DeFi, Fantom also supports NFTs and games, like the new Estfor Kingdom.

Andre Cronje, a director of the Fantom Foundation, solicited community opinions on social media regarding four unreleased DeFi prototype projects, including "Protection markets, LevX, fx*swap, On-chain Bureau". Andre Cronje asked the community for their opinions on whether all suspended projects should be continued to be released, whether all of their code should continue to be released as open source (there are many protocols running on different chains without attribution), and whether they should be specifically released on the Fantom chain. If they choose to open source, should the license be restricted to the Fantom chain?

Developers of Fantom (FTM) have reduced the staking requirement for running a self-staking node on the network by 90%. The move is aimed at improving network security by making it more distributed and challenging for malicious actors to launch an attack. Validators on Fantom confirm transactions on their own and bundle them to share with other validators, unlike on Ethereum where all validators confirm the same transactions. The cost of running a validator node on Fantom has been reduced to 50,000 FTM, currently worth just under $20,000 at current prices.

The Fantom Foundation announced on social media that the self-staking requirement for validators has been reduced from 500,000 FTM to 50,000 FTM, effective immediately. Additionally, FTM lost due to early unlocking will now be sent to the SFC Treasury to obtain ecosystem funds.

On December 4th, the Fantom Foundation announced the launch of the Sonic Labs accelerator program, aimed at promoting innovation within Fantom's new Sonic technology stack and providing resources and support for the next generation of web3 entrepreneurs.<br>The program will select up to five projects, providing each project with funding support of 1 million FTM (approximately $294,000 USD), as well as technical support, joint marketing, and mentorship.<br>The Fantom Foundation encourages eligible projects to apply, and developers can begin building projects on Sonic starting on December 15th. These projects will be launched in the spring of 2024 with the Fantom Sonic mainnet.<br>The Sonic Labs program is open to all developers building new applications on Fantom technology, including GameFi, DeFi, and more. Judging criteria for the competition include vision, utilization of Sonic technology, target user group, uniqueness, positive impact on the Fantom network and users, and brand. The application deadline is February 6th, 2024.<br>

According to official sources, Fantom ecosystem Spooky Swap has announced that its frontend is now online. However, the team has pointed out that although there are no vulnerabilities after the fix, it is impossible to be 100% sure that the vulnerability has been removed due to the nature of the attack. Therefore, users are advised to verify the contract address in their wallets during the use of the frontend.

According to data from The Block dashboard, the number of transactions on alternative Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, including Fantom, Avalanche, Celo, Polygon, and BNB Chain, has surged since mid-November. Fantom saw the highest increase, reaching 1,321%, with transaction volume growing from 239,920 on November 17 to 3.41 million on November 26. Celo grew by 1,277% in just four days, with transaction volume increasing from 277,500 on November 22 to 3.82 million on November 26. Polygon saw a 155% increase in transaction volume from November 14 to November 26, while Avalanche's transaction volume grew from 321,900 on November 18 to 3.08 million on November 26, an increase of 857%.

According to FTMScan data reported by Golden Finance, the gas fee on the Fantom network has exceeded 6000 gwei, suspected to be related to the inscription casting activity on the Fantom network.

On November 21st, the Fantom Foundation announced on its official website that an anonymous security expert had discovered a security risk in the Fantom Foundation wallet. The expert immediately contacted the Fantom Foundation. In recognition of their contribution, the Fantom Foundation awarded the expert a bonus of $1.7 million, which is equivalent to 1% of the potential loss ($170 million) that could have been caused by the vulnerability.It is reported that this security risk is related to the wallet theft incident on October 17th.