Sonic Labs, the team behind the Sonic Layer 1 blockchain network, has concluded every manual issuance of its native S token and brought in an independent third party to audit both the token’s total supply and how that figure has been reported publicly.
Chief executive Matt Visser unveiled the move in a letter titled “Day 100 – Where We Are, And Where We’re Headed,” published Monday on Sonic’s official X account, framing it as the purest action taken yet by the network’s new leadership team to address enduring questions around token issuance.
https://t.co/OhaVQrVW8u
— Sonic (@SonicLabs) September 22, 2026
Going onward, the only S tokens entering circulation will come from an automated emission mechanism that reimburses the validators securing the network, while every other form of manual minting has been shut down completely.
One Mint Left Standing
Visser’s letter draws a sharp distinction between two very different types of token creation. Manual mints, essentially tokens issued through direct decision-making rather than automatic protocol rules, are being eliminated outright, with Visser writing simply that there will be no new mints, period.
The one exception is the automated emissions system that funds validator rewards, which continues successively simply because Sonic doesn’t yet have a feasible replacement mechanism to keep validators compensated without it. Visser described removing that dependency as a personal priority, noting the team is actively exploring new independent validator operators and calculating whether validator rewards could eventually become more dynamic.
He characterized the broader shift as moving from promises to actual mechanics, explaining that this time, the capacity to enlarge supply is being physically removed rather than simply pledged against. The letter stopped short of revealing the current rate of automated emissions, total S token supply, or how many additional tokens the now-cancelled manual mints would have presented into circulation.
Independent Audit Now Underway
The commissioned audit stands out as the letter’s most open-ended assurance, since Sonic hasn’t named which third party is leading the review, specified the exact period under examination, or explained exactly what activated the engagement in the first place.
What the company has confirmed is that the review shelters both the S token supply itself and related reporting practices, with findings likely to be made public once the work wraps up, probably within the coming weeks.
How Sonic Got Here?
Visser stepped into his role during a sincerely difficult stretch for the project. Back on June 20, 2026, Sonic Labs broadcasted that all three of its founding board members, Andre Cronje, Michael Kong, and David Richardson, were stepping down, with Visser taking over as chief executive and Kosta Kourkoumelis named chief operating officer.
The company didn’t attempt to swirl that transition as a successful turnaround moment; its own pronouncement openly acknowledged deteriorating token performance and weakened community sentiment. According to CoinGecko data, S had touched an all-time high of $1 back in January 2025, only to fall to roughly $0.02 by the time Visser took charge in June.
At the time, Visser said he wasn’t promising an prompt fix and that his focus would centre on operational correction first, trust-rebuilding second. In this latest update, he confirmed the leadership handover process, which took significantly longer than the team had hoped, is now finally complete, giving the organization clear responsibility structures for the first time since he joined.
No Buybacks Without Revenue
Visser used the letter to reiterate a stance on token economics he first defined in an earlier Day 50 update. He argued that buybacks, token burns, and fee-sharing preparations are simple to design and announce, but without actual revenue backing them, they effectively become treasury transfers dressed up as straightforward value creation for token holders.
His stated sequence remains building products first, producing revenue second, then deciding how to route that revenue afterward. Conspicuously, the letter doesn’t commit Sonic to any specific buyback, burn, or fee-sharing structure, nor does it offer a timeline for when, or if, revenue might ultimately flow back to S holders.
A Separate Business Built Around The Chain
These supply-related changes form just one piece of a wider organizational restructuring taking shape. Sonic will keep operating as a Layer 1 blockchain, while a distinct technology business gets built to develop and commercialize products around that underlying chain, with department heads to be announced once finalized.
That separate venture ideas to license two of Sonic’s core technical components, SonicVM, the virtual machine responsible for executing smart contracts, and SonicDB, its fundamental database storage engine, to companies that have no direct interest in Sonic as a blockchain itself. Visser said the company is already involved in serious conversations with potential licensing partners, relating this revenue stream as one that doesn’t depend on the impulsive cycles of crypto market adoption.
The letter outlined four specific commercial focus areas: payments and foreign exchange, where Sonic works with Frax on a white-labeled version of its frxUSD stablecoin called USSD, alongside Circle for native USDC support and Spendl for on-ramping and Mastercard-linked spending capability; artificial intelligence, including an internal server connecting AI agents to the network and a transaction-prioritization system called Priority Lanes, both still under internal testing; real-world asset tokenization, including a product named Nummo; and prediction market infrastructure, which Sonic means to license out to operators rather than run itself.
The company long-established it is no longer pursuing perpetual futures individually. Separately, Sonic’s V2.2 network upgrade went live September 22, introducing pushed transactions, expanded transaction sponsorship abilities, larger smart contract limits, and a new execution engine.
New Compliance Leadership Joins The Team
Sonic is also bringing on senior hires across finance, compliance, and regional business development. The most prominent addition is Brandon Topham, who will head finance and compliance after previously spending three years as divisional executive for investigations and enforcement at South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority.
Visser linked this hire directly to the company’s new business direction, noting that any stern counterparty operating in payments, brokerage, or tokenized assets wants clarity on who owns agreement before engaging in deeper discussions.
Memecoins Remain Off The Table
The letter also addressed Sonic’s stance on memecoins directly. Visser set Sonic will not endorse specific tokens, provide liquidity for them, or play favorites within that category.
He drew a separate division around what he termed culture coins, tokens built with sincere substance behind them, saying Sonic plans to bring builders in that space together to cooperatively define what meaningful support should actually look like, starting from infrastructure, tooling, and neutrality rather than liquidity provisions or public endorsements.
Visser confirmed he’ll be attending both Korea Blockchain Week and Token2049 in Singapore in early October, with the audit’s findings expected to land before or around that same timeframe.
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