Sonic Labs announced on June 25 via X that it has chosen not to execute the planned annual inflation of 47.625 million S tokens this year, and is actively working toward completely halting the inflation of the S token supply. Sonic Labs stated that this decision is a direct response to demands from the community and stakeholders. According to the official announcement, three founders, including Andre Cronje, have resigned from the board of directors.
Background of the Inflation Pause: 47.625 Million Annual Plan, First Round Executed in June 2025
According to Sonic Labs' tokenomics model, the original design mints 47.625 million S tokens annually to fund the growth of the Sonic ecosystem; the first round of inflation was executed on June 18, 2025. This year (2026), the team has chosen not to mint, and is actively working to halt S supply inflation. The only outstanding issue is the source of funding for validator rewards—the network needs to ensure its own security, and the team is developing a plan, promising to release more details once work progresses.
Three Founders Resign and New Management Takes Over: Visser as CEO, Kourkoumelis as COO
On June 20, 2026, Sonic Labs announced that three founders—Andre Cronje, Michael Kong, and David Richardson—have formally resigned from the board of directors and will no longer participate in company business decisions. Matt Visser has taken over as CEO, and Kosta Kourkoumelis as COO.
In the announcement, the new management acknowledged the "Hard Truths" of token price declines and low community sentiment, promising to rebuild with a "Day 1" attitude, compounding progress through 1% daily improvement; committing to fully transparent decision-making and rationale, establishing a risk and compliance committee, and treating retail investors holding S tokens as primary stakeholders. On the technical side, since 2026, the GitHub main branch has merged 400 meaningful Pull Requests, released two official versions, and the major version 2.2.0 is under active development and is already live on a private testnet.
Andre Cronje's Personal Statement: Clarification on Technical Role and Public Stance on FTM Decommission
Andre Cronje issued a personal statement on June 19, 2026, drawing clear boundaries: he "did not" design or execute the FTM to S token migration; "did not" design or manage Sonic's airdrop campaign; and was not involved in token distribution, issuance, or inflation control decisions related to tokenomics. He noted that the Fantom company existed before he joined, that he initially served as a technical advisor, and was only appointed as a director in December 2022; his previous self-identification as a "co-founder" was inaccurate, as his actual role was the primary originator of the technical architecture.
Cronje also stated that he "does not support" decommissioning the ERC-20 FTM token on Ethereum or shutting down the Opera network. After the transition is complete, he will focus on a new project he has been developing for the past 18 months, "Flying Tulip."
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Sonic Labs' halt of annual inflation mean a permanent stop to S token inflation?
According to the announcement, Sonic Labs is currently pausing this year's annual inflation and states that it is "actively working to halt S token supply inflation." However, completely stopping inflation still has an unresolved issue: the source of funding for validator rewards still needs a solution, as network security requires corresponding incentive funds. Sonic Labs has promised to release more details after the plan is developed.
After Andre Cronje resigned from the board, will Sonic Labs' technical development continue?
According to the new management's announcement, the engineering team's operations have never stopped; since 2026, 400 GitHub Pull Requests have been merged and two official versions released. The major version 2.2.0 is under active development and is already live on a private testnet. Cronje also stated in his statement that the technical achievements are what he is proud of, and his resignation is mainly a separation from business decision-making.
What specific governance improvements has new CEO Matt Visser promised?
According to the new management's announcement, specific commitments include: full transparency of all decisions and rationale; establishing a risk and compliance committee to create internal controls; treating retail investors holding S tokens as true stakeholders; reducing empty announcements and replacing them with substantive progress updates for communication.
