Author: 0xyanshu Source: Shoal Research Translation: Shan Oba, Golden Finance

Introduction

The blockchain network has made significant progress in its architecture to address scalability challenges. Solana stands out as a high-performance blockchain that optimizes scalability and throughput with its unique execution architecture. Unlike traditional blockchain designs that rely on sequential processing, Solana introduces a parallel execution model supported by the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM). Acting as the execution environment for smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps), SVM enables Solana to handle a higher transaction throughput per second (TPS) compared to other blockchain architectures.

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To further extend SVM’s capabilities beyond Solana, SOON Network has launched an SVM-based Layer 2 (L2) network that settles on Ethereum while retaining Solana’s execution benefits. SOON enables cross-chain interoperability, reduces transaction costs, and enhances the developer experience by extending SVMs to major Layer 1 networks.

This report will provide an overview of SOON’s architecture, ecosystem, and growth strategy, with an in-depth look at the advantages of SVMs over EVMs, the technological advancements behind SOON, and the SOON Big Bang Program, a long-term incentive program designed to drive ecosystem growth, including collaborative integration and NFT empowerment.

The modular approach of Solana and Solana Virtual Machine (SVM)

Solana’s capabilities have been further enhanced by the recent shift to a modular blockchain architecture. Previously, the Solana validator client was tightly integrated with the SVM, limiting innovation and requiring any changes to be adjusted at the system-wide level. However, in July 2024, Anza launched the SVM API, marking a major change to Solana’s execution environment, allowing developers to decouple the SVM from the validator client (Agave).

With this breakthrough, SOON became the first protocol to leverage decoupled SVMs, extending Solana’s execution capabilities beyond its native ecosystem and driving wider adoption of SVM rollups.

This modular design allows developers to optimize the execution environment independently, without impacting consensus, the network, or block production mechanisms. A growing number of projects are taking advantage of this flexibility to innovate, including:

• Permissioned L1 Network: Similar to SWIFT’s compliance framework, while automating manual processes (such as Sphere).

• Decentralized storage solutions: Expand Solana’s program capacity (e.g., Xandeum).

• EVM and Solana Interoperability: Run Ethereum on Solana, Solana on EVM, and native Solana Rollups (e.g. Ellipsis, Neon, Soon).

• Bitcoin x Solana Cross-Chain: Combine new cross-chain applications (e.g., Yona, Molocule, Zeus).

• Next-generation validator clients: Firedancer, such as Jump’s, demonstrated at Breakpoint, has a theoretical maximum throughput of 1,000,000 TPS.

• Cutting-edge innovations such as zkSVM, Rollup, AI combined with blockchain.

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Solana’s Modular Report (Produced by Delphi) highlights the key advantages of this approach, including:

• Independent Innovation: Developers can iterate on the SVM without modifying the validator client.

• Optimized Performance: The execution environment can be customized to suit specific needs.

• Diverse implementations: Create multiple SVM variants for DeFi, gaming, and AI dApps.

• Interoperability Standards: The rise of multiple SVM versions has led to the creation of new cross-chain standards.

• Developer Experience Improvement: Decouple the execution layer from the consensus layer to simplify smart contract development and deployment.

SVM vs. EVM: Architecture vs. Performance Differences

Although both the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) are smart contract execution environments, there are fundamental differences in their architectural design and how transactions are processed.

1. Execution Model

The EVM runs in a single-threaded environment and processes transactions sequentially. While this ensures security and consistency, it can lead to bottlenecks when transaction volumes are high, leading to network congestion and increased gas fees. SVM employs parallel execution through its Sealevel engine, which allows multiple non-conflicting transactions to run simultaneously on different cores of the validator hardware. This multi-threaded approach enhances scalability and reduces latency, allowing Solana to achieve significantly higher throughput at a lower cost.

2. Status & Data Management

Ethereum’s account model stores balances and state in a single smart contract. Potential conflicts arise when multiple contracts attempt to read or modify the same account data at the same time.

By contrast, Solana’s explicit state access model requires transactions to specify the accounts they interact with before execution. This design eliminates conflicts at runtime, allowing for concurrent processing of independent transactions.

3. Hardware Utilization

Due to the single-threaded nature of the EVM, it cannot take full advantage of modern multi-core processors, resulting in underutilization of validator hardware. SVM is designed to make efficient use of multi-core processing power, distribute transaction execution across multiple threads, and ensure optimal hardware scaling.

4. Fee Market Design

Ethereum adopts a global fee market, and a surge in demand in one of these areas, such as NFT minting, could lead to a spike in gas fees across the network, impacting unrelated transactions. This leads to costly and unpredictable costs for users.

Solana leveraged Sealevel’s parallel processing power to enable a localized expense market. Each smart contract operates independently in terms of fee calculations, preventing congestion in one area from affecting the entire network. This ensures lower and more predictable fees.

SOON Network: SVM L2 Based Scaling Solution

SOON (Solana Optimistic Network) is a high-performance SVM Rollup that aims to drive the large-scale adoption of blockchain technology by extending Solana’s execution environment to major Layer 1 (L1) networks. Unlike traditional Ethereum rollups, SOON uses a decoupled Solana virtual machine (Decoupled SVM) to optimize execution speed and scalability. Its core technology is based on the SOON Stack, a modular rollup framework that allows for the deployment of SVM-compatible Layer 2 (L2) networks on any L1.

SOON’s architecture consists of three core components:

• SOON Mainnet – a general-purpose SVM L2 that settles on Ethereum.

• SOON Stack—Modular Rollup framework that supports creating SVM-based Rollup on different L1s.

• InterSOON – a cross-chain messaging protocol that enables seamless interoperability between SOON and other blockchain networks.

In the following sections, we’ll explore how SOON combines high-performance execution, cross-chain interoperability, and scalability to build a unified blockchain ecosystem that breaks down barriers between different chains.

SOON’s core philosophy revolves around the Super Adoption Stack (SAS), with the goal of creating a fully interoperable blockchain future where all networks can communicate seamlessly. The two key pillars of SAS are:

1. High-Performance Execution – Bring SVM to mainstream L1 ecosystems (e.g., Ethereum, Bitcoin, BNB, TON) to improve execution efficiency.

2. Seamless Interoperability – Establish cross-chain communication between SVM L2s and all major L1s for smooth asset transfers and dApp interactions.

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The SOON Mainnet and SOON Stack are the core components of this vision, enabling developers to deploy SVM Rollups on different L1s while ensuring smooth cross-chain connectivity through InterSOON.

SOON Mainnet: First Decoupled SVM Rollup

SOON Mainnet is an L2 solution that settles on Ethereum and uses Decoupled SVM as the execution layer. Unlike traditional EVM Rollup, SOON Mainnet adopts SVM, which has unparalleled advantages in speed, scalability, and efficiency:

• SVM-driven execution – faster and more efficient than traditional EVM rollups.

• Interoperability with Ethereum – Native ERC-20 <> SPL asset cross-chain support for seamless transfers.

Security is an important distinction of SOON compared to other SVM Rollup projects. According to L2Beat data, SOON is a Rollup, not a sidechain. Unlike Rollups, sidechains require self-built security mechanisms and validator nodes, which may not be as secure as the main chain in the early stages.

SOON uses the Rollup Mechanism to ensure that in the event of a Sequencer failure, users can still submit transactions directly to L1, ensuring the accessibility and security of on-chain operations.

Many SVM rollups simply replicate Solana’s execution model without providing additional security. SOON enhances security through Merklization and State Root Verification, which are similar to account snapshots on the blockchain and are permanently stored on Ethereum.

Simply put, Merklization is the way SOON will structurize the blockchain data into a Merkle tree, allowing for efficient and secure verification of transactions and balances. It ensures security against fraud, higher scalability, and trustless withdrawals between Layer 2 and Layer 1.

This allows users to mathematically verify their funds at any time, eliminating the need to rely on trust-based security models.

• Permanent and verifiable access to transaction history, unlike other SVM projects that impose 150 slot restrictions.
• Fund verification based on mathematical proof, rather than relying on aggregated internal data.
• Independently verify transactions through Merkle proofs to ensure users can verify their balances without exposing others’ data.

SOON’s Core Technology Innovation

1. Decoupling SVM – SOON separates SVM execution from Solana’s native consensus, allowing SVM to be used as an independent execution layer for rollups.
2. Merklization – Use the Merkle Patricia Trees (MPT) to efficiently validate state transitions, aligning with Ethereum’s proof-of-verification model for seamless integration.
3. Horizontal Scaling – Achieve unlimited scalability by adding more validator nodes, ensuring high throughput and reliability without overloading a single machine.

By combining Ethereum’s security and liquidity with Solana’s high-performance execution, SOON Mainnet provides a next-generation Layer 2 experience for Solana and Ethereum developers.

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SOON’s public mainnet was recently launched, with more than 20 ecosystem projects deployed, including Ethereum’s official SOON Native Bridge and Solana and TON’s InterSOON. With the first round of NFT minting raising $22 million, details about the second round of COMMing SOON NFTs will be announced soon, offering new benefits to early participants (we’ll go into more detail about COMMing SOON NFTs and SOON Big Bang)

SOON Stack: Modular SVM Rollup Framework

The SOON Stack is a flexible rollup infrastructure that allows developers to deploy SVM-based rollups on different L1s. Chains built with the SOON Stack are called SOON chains, and they retain the advantages of SOON’s decoupled SVM as well as the parallel execution capabilities of SVMs, while maintaining compatibility with Ethereum’s OP Stack.

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Key Features of SOON Stack

Multi-L1 support - Support for Ethereum as the settlement layer and integration with EigenDA, Celestia, and Avail for data availability. Performance Optimization – Reduce unnecessary data availability costs by separating execution from Solana’s consensus by using a decoupled SVM. Customizable Rollups – Enables builders to launch SVM Rollups with fine-tuned parameters for DeFi, gaming, and other applications. **

SOON Stack Use Cases

1. AI & DePIN – The SOON Stack provides high-performance execution for DePIN and AI-powered applications. For example, SOON recently partnered with IoTeX to enable real-time data processing, device-to-blockchain interactions, and AI automation at scale. DePIN networks need to provide fast and cost-effective transaction processing for IoT devices, sensors, and machine learning models, while AI-powered dApps require low-latency inference and secure data exchange—both of which SOON achieves by decoupling SVMs and parallel transaction execution.
2. Finance & DeFi Protocols – Optimized for low-latency, high-volume transactions. **
3. Custom Gas Fee Model - Applications can implement a customized Gas structure to improve user experience (UX).

Adoption and Growth of SOON Stack

SOON Stack has partnered with Cytonic, CARV, and Lucent Network, marking a significant step in expanding the SVM-based rollup ecosystem. These projects leverage SOON’s Decoupled SVM architecture to build scalable, high-performance blockchains:

• Cytonic pioneered multi-VM interoperability, enabling dApps from Solana, Ethereum, and other blockchains to coexist seamlessly. Cytonic is building its first SVM-based chain using Caldera and SOON Stack.
• SOON is powering CARV’s SVM chain through the SOON Stack. CARV is building an AI-driven data economy chain, integrating trusted execution environments (TEE) and zk-proofs to ensure privacy and security.
• Lucent Network (formerly Clover) is introducing an AI-optimized financial and SocialFi ecosystem and will use the SOON Stack to build an SVM-based AI-driven network.

In addition, SOON has partnered with Caldera, the fastest-growing Rollups as a Service (RaaS) provider, to support SVM-based Rollups. This collaboration makes it easier for projects to launch application-specific SVM chains with one-click deployment and modular execution.

By providing a standardized SVM aggregation framework, the SOON Stack enables developers to build and scale high-performance Layer 2 chains, facilitating the development of next-generation AI, DePIN, and decentralized finance solutions without the limitations of EVM.

InterSOON: Achieving Seamless Cross-Chain Communication

InterSOON is a cross-chain messaging protocol that enables smooth interaction between the SOON Mainnet, SOON Stack, and other L1s. Unlike traditional token bridges, which create decentralized liquidity, InterSOON allows smart contracts and assets to interact natively between multiple chains.

Key Features of InterSOON

• Unified Messaging Standard - By implementing **standardized communication, the need for custom bridges is eliminated.
• Preserve liquidity - avoid liquidity dilution by maintaining the native form of assets. Improved Performance – Decoupled SVMs optimize cross-chain interactions by eliminating unnecessary bridging overhead.

By using Hyperlane as its messaging backbone, InterSOON provides a scalable and trustless communication layer for the next generation of multi-chain applications.

Community Fundraising Initiation Mechanism: A New Model of Value Distribution

One of the major challenges facing token issuance today is the lack of accessibility, fairness, and coordination between the project and the community. Existing distribution models tend to skew venture capitalists (VC) and early insiders to the exclusion of users who contribute to the network’s growth. This disconnect leads to poor long-term coordination, speculative cycles, and reduced community engagement.

Community-based NFT minting issuances (such as SOON’s recently launched COMMing SOON NFT round, which we’ll discuss in more detail in later sections) provide a permissionless, transparent, and incentive-driven mechanism for the community to raise funds while ensuring that value is distributed to investors. This approach integrates customizable pricing, flexible vesting, and NFT-bound token rights to create a sustainable and decentralized token issuance framework.

How Community NFT Mint Enables Fair and Efficient Financing

Unlike traditional token issuances, which prioritize exclusive allocations, the community NFT minting model provides a transparent and adaptable fundraising mechanism while ensuring that community participants receive long-term incentives and governance impact.

1. Tokenized Participation through NFTs

• Participants do not sell tokens directly, but mint NFTs that contain token rights, vesting conditions, and additional benefits.
• These NFTs represent customized token access, allowing users to choose terms based on their risk appetite.
• Investors can trade these NFTs, providing a liquid market for vested token rights until the actual token is unlocked.
• This model minimizes regulatory complexity and associated legal risks.

2. Configurable pricing and vesting structure

• The multi-tier pricing model allows users to choose to obtain instant liquidity at a higher price or to obtain longer-term ownership at a discounted price.
• This removes the mandatory price distortion caused by the fixed unlock plan and reduces the post-launch sales pressure.
• Fair entry conditions ensure that retail users and large investors alike can access token supply on transparent terms.

3. Community-first fundraising model

• There are no private rounds or backdoor deals – each allocation is open to the community.
• Smart contracts manage token issuance, vesting, and distribution, ensuring trustless execution.
• Take the guesswork out of pre-IPO by structuring launch schedules that incentivize long-term engagement rather than quick exits.

Mechanism for Distributing Value to Investors

To create sustainable incentives and ensure long-term alignment with investors, the community NFT Mint model integrates multiple value-return mechanisms, reducing the risks typically associated with early participation.

1. The Revenue-Generating Utility of Community NFTs

• Projects can attach additional benefits to minted NFTs, such as:

• Platform revenue sharing
• Governance participation and voting weighting

• This transforms community NFT Mint into an asset that accumulates value beyond token unlocking, ensuring investors’ continued participation.

2. Dynamically unlock based on network growth

• Token launch schedules can be adapted to network adoption metrics to prevent premature liquidity events.
• Community NFTs encourage investors to support ecosystem growth rather than engage in short-term speculation.

3. Embedded Recommendation & Reputation System

• Participants who drive adoption through referrals and organic contributions can be rewarded with additional tokens.
• Ranking-based reward mechanisms (e.g., Kaito-style rankings) further align power users with project success.

The community NFT minting model offers a transformative approach to financing that incorporates liquidity, flexibility, and decentralization into token issuance. By enabling NFT-bound token rights, a dynamic vesting model, and a continuous value accumulation mechanism, the system ensures long-term coordination between the project, investors, and the community.

This model is not only a fundraising mechanism, but also the foundation of a sustainable token economy, ensuring that projects remain decentralized, reducing early speculative risk and promoting long-term adoption. In an industry where liquidity and consistency are key success factors, Community NFT Mint is a scalable, inclusive, and market-responsive innovation for next-generation Web3 projects.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

According to the latest developer report from Electric Capital, there are currently over 24,000 active developers per month in the blockchain ecosystem. Among them, Solana attracts the most new developers, with over 7,500 new developers exploring Solana and its SVM technology stack. This is the first time since 2016 that a blockchain ecosystem has surpassed Ethereum in the number of new developers.

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As the blockchain ecosystem continues to grow in 2025, there are three main options for developers:

• SVM
• EVM
• Move

Among them, the competition in the EVM ecosystem is the most intense, including Monad, Berachain, Base, MegaETH, and many emerging EVM L2 solutions. If an EVM ecosystem cannot meet the team’s needs, they can easily migrate to another EVM ecosystem, leading to increased internal competition in the EVM ecosystem. Since the development experience of these ecosystems is roughly the same, the key factors of competition will mainly be reflected in ecosystem support, liquidity, and community strength. Although it is possible to deploy across multiple EVM ecosystems, managing multiple EVM instances will increase complexity and may affect product focus.

By contrast, SVM and Move ecosystems have higher developer retention and talent density because there are fewer competitive platforms to choose from. This means developers have more incentive to stay in the same ecosystem, accumulate deeper expertise, and drive ecosystem innovation.

Although EVM is currently the most mature ecosystem, it has fewer opportunities for innovation and is progressing at a slower pace. Conversely, the SVM and Move ecosystems will have a technology leadership edge in 2025, with less competition and a higher concentration of talent, giving developers stronger incentives to drive faster technology evolution.

However, their long-term success depends on a core factor:

How fast can the SVM and Move ecosystems improve developer experience, including contract layer optimization, data reading improvement, and core protocol optimization.

**Solana development experience improved by 2-5 times and the ecosystem grew by 10 times? **

As Helios Labs co-founder 0xMert_ said:

If Solana can improve the developer experience 2-5 times in 2025, its growth rate may be 10 times that of other ecosystems.

Currently, the SVM ecosystem has: **500+ full-time developers, **more than 3.3K active developers per month, **54K+ codebase, **over 15 million code commits.

With the continuous growth of the number of developers, the SVM ecosystem is gradually becoming a core participant in blockchain innovation. This trend shows that there is a continuous increase in demand for SVM, and the potential value of SVM as a high-performance, scalable architecture is rising.

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In line with this trend, SOON Network offers developers, users, and businesses a strong competitive advantage in 2025, especially for projects looking to deploy Appchains.

Appchains are becoming the best choice for enterprise applications, especially in finance and gaming, because they have:

• High performance, seamless experience, and enhanced security
• Lower cost, customizability, and experimental space Greater Governance, Consensus Mechanisms and Economic Model Flexibility

Unlike general-purpose L2, Appchains rely on L1 for security and network operation, avoiding competition with other applications for storage and compute resources. This means that developers can capture greater value while maintaining control of the execution environment.

With the rising demand for scalable, applied Appchains, SOON Network is at the forefront of Modular Execution, pushing Solana’s SVM to become a dedicated execution layer for multiple L1s.

With the growing demand for scalable, application-specific chains, projects like SOON Network are at the forefront of modular execution, enabling Solana’s SVM to serve as a dedicated execution layer across multiple L1s.

By leveraging decoupled SVM, Merklization, and horizontal scaling, SOON enhances scalability, efficiency, and interoperability. As SVM adoption continues to grow, SOON’s modular framework positions itself as a key player in blockchain scaling, combining the speed of Solana with the security of Ethereum and fostering a more connected, efficient multi-chain ecosystem.

In addition, the InterSOON messaging infrastructure enhances interoperability and composability between application chains, reinforcing the SVM stack’s position as a viable framework for next-generation blockchain scaling.