Fantom Foundation

What Fantom Foundation does

Fantom Foundation Ltd is a Cayman Islands-domiciled private foundation that operates the Fantom Opera Layer-1 smart contract platform, an EVM-compatible blockchain built on an aBFT (Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerant) consensus protocol layered over a Directed Acyclic Graph architecture. The native FTM token is used to pay gas (sub-$0.01 average per transaction), stake for network security at yields of roughly 1.8% to 6% APR depending on lock-up, and vote in on-chain governance. The chain claims ~2,044 TPS, ~0.923s time-to-finality, and energy consumption under 10,061 kWh/year. Core products include the FVM (a custom virtual machine that processes 65x EVM throughput with seamless bytecode conversion and super instructions), fWallet for self-custodial staking and token management, and an Ecosystem Vault that allocates 10% of gas fees to community-governed grants on a quarterly cadence.

The network is secured by 17 validators and serves a long tail of developers and end users across DeFi, NFT, GameFi, and infrastructure applications — 250+ dApps have been deployed, with ~195.97M cumulative unique addresses and ~13.97M total transactions. The foundation operates community- and product-led go-to-market: Gas Monetization returns 15% of generated gas fees to qualifying dApps, and cross-chain bridge integrations (Wormhole, LayerZero, Squid Router) plus recommended developer tooling (Hardhat, Thirdweb, Moralis, Remix, FTMScan) target inbound developer migration from Ethereum. Marketing is anchored on developer relations (hackathons, grants, GitHub, Discord, Telegram) and content channels rather than an enterprise sales motion.

Fantom Foundation is led by CEO Michael Kong, Executive Chairman David Richardson, CTO Andre Cronje (founder of Yearn Finance), and Chief Research Officer Prof. Bernhard Scholz, with a global team of 11–50 employees. Foundation revenues are not directly captured from gas — fees accrue to validators and dApps — and no revenue figure is publicly disclosed. In May 2024 the foundation closed a $10M strategic round led by Hashed and announced the creation of Sonic Foundation and Sonic Labs to build a successor Sonic blockchain, planning a 1:1 FTM-to-S token migration at mainnet launch with Opera continuing to be supported for holders who remain on FTM.

Name

Fantom Foundation

Legal name

Fantom Foundation Ltd

Website

https://fantom.foundation

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fantom Foundation Ltd operates the Fantom Opera Layer-1 smart contract platform, an EVM-compatible blockchain using aBFT consensus and a custom FVM execution layer to deliver ~2,000 TPS with sub-second finality and sub-$0.01 transaction fees for DeFi, NFT, and GameFi dApp developers and end users.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Seoul

HQ country

South Korea

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Network Transaction Fees (Gas): Users pay transaction fees (gas) denominated in FTM to execute operations on the Fantom Opera chain. Fees are less than $0.01 per transaction on average. The Fantom Foundation derives no explicit per-transaction revenue but the token's utility sustains network operations and validator incentives.
2. Strategic Investment / Ecosystem Funding: The Fantom Foundation raised $10 million in a strategic funding round led by Hashed in May 2024. Funds are used to support ecosystem development and governance through the newly formed Sonic Foundation.
3. Ecosystem Vault: 10% of all Fantom transaction fees are directed to the Ecosystem Vault, a community-driven funding source. The Vault is managed by a governance contract controlled by Fantom token holders and distributes funds to dApps through quarterly funding rounds upon governance approval.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Fantom Foundation develops and operates the Opera smart contract platform, a high-performance Layer-1 blockchain that uses aBFT consensus combined with DAG architecture to deliver approximately 2,000 TPS with sub-second finality at transaction costs averaging less than $0.01. The foundation issues and supports the FTM native token for staking, governance, and gas fees, and provides developer-facing infrastructure including the EVM-compatible Fantom Virtual Machine (FVM), Gas Monetization revenue sharing (15% of gas returned to dApps), and the Ecosystem Vault community funding mechanism.

Product overview

Fantom Foundation operates a Layer-1 blockchain ecosystem centered on the Opera smart contract platform. The core product portfolio includes Opera (EVM-compatible smart contract platform achieving 2,000+ TPS with sub-second finality), the FTM native token (used for staking, governance, and gas fees), fWallet (native staking and management wallet), and the FVM (Fantom Virtual Machine) which processes 65x more transactions than standard EVM. Supporting modules include the Ecosystem Vault (community funding receiving 10% of transaction fees), Gas Monetization (15% revenue share for dApps generating 15K+ transactions), and specialized ecosystems for DeFi, Gaming, and NFTs. The foundation has announced the Sonic Foundation and Sonic Labs as new entities to develop the Sonic high-performance blockchain, with FTM tokens migrating to S tokens at 1:1 ratio. The network maintains 17 validators securing the stake-weighted proof-of-stake consensus.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Opera Fantom's smart contract platform offering high scalability and storage to developers with a streamlined experience for end users. Achieves over 2,000 transactions per second with ~1-second finality at transaction costs under $0.01. Targets dApp developers and end users in DeFi, NFT, gaming, and Web3 verticals.
• FTM Token Native cryptocurrency token of the Fantom Opera network, used for paying gas fees, staking to secure the network and earn rewards, and participating in on-chain governance. Circulating supply approximately 2.8 billion out of 3.175 billion total supply.
• Staking

Quantifiable outcome

• ~2,044 transactions per second (TPS)
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration22 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WormholecoreTechnology or IntegrationWormhole is a cross-chain bridge enabling users to bridge assets to Fantom from other blockchains. Referenced as a recommended bridge option on the Fantom website.
• LayerZerocoreTechnology or IntegrationLayerZero is a cross-chain interoperability protocol used for bridging assets to Fantom. LayerZero has also introduced USDC, USDT, WETH, and WBTC to the Fantom network, enhancing DeFi liquidity.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAWS partnered with Fantom for hackathons (e.g., AWS Fantom Hackathon Q2 2023) to encourage developer participation in the ecosystem.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• NEAR Protocol: NEAR is a sharded Layer-1 with sub-second finality and EVM compatibility that competes for the same developer and user base as Fantom. Both emphasize high throughput and low transaction costs.
• Solana Labs: Solana operates a high-throughput, low-fee Layer-1 blockchain targeting the same DeFi, NFT, and gaming dApp developers as Fantom. Both compete on TPS, finality, and cost metrics for crypto-native developer mindshare.
• Polygon Labs: Polygon operates an Ethereum-aligned Layer-2/sidechain ecosystem that competes with Fantom for EVM-compatible dApps seeking low-cost execution. Both chains market to developers migrating from Ethereum mainnet.
• EOS Network Foundation: EOS is a high-throughput Layer-1 with smart contracts and a foundation governance model similar to Fantom's. Both target DeFi and gaming dApps on a community-driven L1.
• Algorand Foundation: Algorand operates a pure proof-of-stake Layer-1 with sub-second finality and low fees, targeting similar DeFi and asset-tokenization use cases. Both compete for institutional and enterprise blockchain deployments.
• Avalanche Foundation: Avalanche runs an EVM-compatible Layer-1 with sub-second finality and high TPS, directly competing with Fantom Opera for dApp deployments. Both target enterprise and DeFi use cases with comparable performance positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Hedera Hashgraph: Hedera operates a hashgraph-based distributed ledger with sub-second finality and low energy use, positioned as an enterprise-grade alternative to public L1s. It overlaps with Fantom on enterprise tokenization and ESG narratives.
• Tron Network: Tron is an established high-throughput Layer-1 with deep DeFi and stablecoin liquidity, particularly in Asian markets. It competes with Fantom for low-cost DeFi and asset transfer use cases globally.
• Cardano Foundation: Cardano is an established Layer-1 with formal-methods-driven smart contracts and a large, more slowly moving ecosystem. While architecturally distinct, it competes for the same general-purpose dApp developer pool.

Regional players

• Tezos Foundation: Tezos is an energy-efficient L1 with on-chain governance and a strong footprint in art/NFT and European institutional markets. It competes with Fantom on sustainability positioning and regulated-asset tokenization.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fantomfdn
• GitHubgithub.com/Fantom-Foundation
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC0T0nLjwUaLDiSONLBxY8IQ
• Instagraminstagram.com/0xSonic

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors19 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments5 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fantom Foundation