Mad Lukas

George Town, Cayman Islands, January 20th, 2025, Chainwire

Sonic Labs, the team behind the highest-performing EVM L1 blockchain Sonic, announced the launch of the Sonic DeFAI Hackathon, in partnership with DoraHacks, a global hackathon organizer, and Zerebro, an autonomous AI agent.

With $250,000 in prizes, the hackathon invites participants to compete over four weeks to create novel AI agents that perform both social and on-chain actions, further accelerating the development of DeFAI (decentralized finance and AI) on Sonic.

Hackathon submissions open today, January 21, 2025, and will close on February 24, 2025. Winners will be announced in early March.

Empowering AI and Blockchain

DeFAI is a term that combines AI and blockchain technology. For example, AI agents on a blockchain can handle complex tasks through simple commands, such as bridging assets, swapping tokens, and depositing liquidity — all autonomously in one step. Other AI agents may manage social media accounts and execute marketing strategies efficiently.

The ambition of the Sonic DeFAI Hackathon is to harness AI frameworks in ways that transform how we interact with blockchain technology. From managing social media accounts to executing on-chain actions, AI agents have become the new frontier of innovation in the blockchain space.

Sonic’s unmatched transaction speed (10,000 TPS) and sub-second finality ensure that AI agents can execute complex, real-time actions seamlessly.

“The Sonic DeFAI Hackathon is a groundbreaking initiative that merges cutting-edge AI capabilities with the transformative power of blockchain. With $250,000 in prizes, we aim to inspire creators worldwide to redefine DeFi through AI agents.” — Luis Fausto, Content Lead, Sonic Labs

Application Process and Submission Guidelines

To participate, developers can visit the Sonic DeFAI Hackathon page on DoraHacks where the hackathon is hosted. Participants must follow the application process below.

Timeline: Participants have four weeks to develop and finalize their projects. The submission deadline is February 21, 2025.

Video Demo: Each team must submit a three-minute demo video showcasing their agent via YouTube, Vimeo, or Google Drive.

Repository Link: A link to the project’s code repository is required.

A panel of industry experts will evaluate and judge the submissions, including Michael Kong (CEO, Sonic Labs), Seg (Developer Relations, Sonic Labs), Jeffy Yu (Founder, Zerebro), Ayoub (Lead Engineer, Zerebro), and Daniele Sesta (Founder, Hey Anon). Additional judges may be announced before the submission deadline.

Submissions will be judged using the following criteria:

Technological Implementation: Does the integration with Sonic demonstrate quality software development?

Design: Is the project’s user experience and design thoughtfully crafted and intuitive?

Potential Impact: What is the potential scale of the project’s influence on the blockchain industry?

Quality of the Idea: How creative and unique is the project?

Prizes and Awards

A total of $250,000 in prizes will be distributed to winning projects across several categories:

Top 3 Agents

First Place: $60,000

Second Place: $55,000

Third Place: $45,000

Honorable Mentions (2): $15,000 each

Additionally, several opportunities for bonus prizes are available to all participants. The top 3 winners are also eligible for bonus prizes if their agents fall into specified categories.

Best Social Agent

Winner $12,500

Runner-Up: $7,500

Best DeFAI Agent

Winner $12,500

Runner-Up: $7,500

Best Tooling Agent

Winner $12,500

Runner-Up: $7,500

Support for Participants and Winners

Throughout the hackathon, participants will have access to comprehensive guidance on idea development, AI frameworks, and project setup. This includes technical support for ZerePy, an open-source Python framework developed by Zerebro for creating on-chain and social agents. The Sonic chain has been fully integrated with ZerePy for easy and efficient agent building.

The winning teams will receive additional perks, including marketing exposure via official Sonic Labs social media channels and other promotional opportunities to help bring their agents to a larger audience.

“By leveraging the power of AI agents, we can simplify processes that were once complicated and redefine how users interact with DeFi. This hackathon is about building that future today.” — Jeffy Yu, Founder, Zerebro

For more information or to register for the hackathon, users can visit the Sonic DeFAI Hackathon page and join the official Telegram group.

About Sonic

Sonic is the highest-performing EVM L1, combining speed, incentives, and world-class infrastructure for DeFi, powered by the S token. The chain provides 10,000 TPS and sub-second confirmation times.

About DoraHacks

DoraHacks is a global hackathon organizer and one of the world’s most active developer incentive platforms. It creates a global hacker movement in blockchain, quantum computing, and space tech, and provides a wide range of toolkits to help developers around the world team up and fund their ideas and BUIDLs via hackathons, bounties, grants, idea networks, developer games, and more.

About Zerebro

Zerebro is an AI agent that autonomously manages actions across domains like social media and blockchain, adapting based on experience to deliver highly personalized results. Its open-source framework, ZerePy, lets users deploy custom AI agents in minutes for a seamless, flexible experience.

Contact

Sonic Labs
[email protected]

The post Sonic Labs Announces $250,000 Sonic DeFAI Hackathon in Partnership with DoraHacks and Zerebro appeared first on Blockonomi.

Fantom (FTM) trades near $1.23 and could reach $12.26 with strong technical signals for growth.  

A broadening wedge formation suggests a possible breakout as momentum builds above critical resistance levels.  

Analyst Alex Clay highlights $5.59, $8.92, and $12.26 as FTM’s next potential price targets.  

Fantom (FTM) may soon experience a price breakout based on analysis from Alex Clay, a respected crypto analyst. The coin currently trades near $1.2322 and shows strong potential for gains. A broadening wedge pattern on the weekly chart signals an incoming move, with projected targets reaching up to $12.2610.  

Source: Alex Clay

Price Targets and Resistance Levels  

Alex Clay outlined three main targets for FTM’s upward momentum. The first target is set at $5.5940, marking the start of a bullish trend. The second target reaches $8.9240, and the final goal stands at $12.2610. These levels align with Fibonacci extensions that support the analysis.  

Traders are closely watching immediate resistance zones that sit between $1.95 and $2.30. If FTM can break through this range, it may move toward the next critical zone near $3.00. Once momentum builds, the green zone at $4.50 could confirm a stronger breakout.  

Short-Term Consolidation Before Breakout  

The analysis also points to possible consolidation near Fibonacci retracement levels. FTM could range between $1.95 at the 0.236 level and $2.34 at the 0.382 level. Traders should monitor this area closely because breaking above it could trigger a large move upward.  

The chart also aligns with Elliott Wave theory, which indicates FTM is currently in its wave III phase. This wave typically leads to the most gains during a bullish structure. If this phase continues, FTM may hit its long-term targets.  

Market Sentiment and Community Response  

The analysis by Alex Clay has gained widespread attention with 29.6K views and hundreds of engagements. While some traders believe the price can hit double digits, others remain cautious. One commenter expressed doubts about FTM reaching $12.26 this cycle and suggested $5 might be more realistic.  

However, the bullish setup continues to attract investor interest as technical signals remain clear. The broadening wedge pattern, combined with Fibonacci levels, provides strong evidence for upward potential.  

The post Fantom (FTM) Could Surge to $12.26 as Key Breakout Levels Near  appeared first on Crypto News Land.

It's been a year since the demise of the FTX exchange — an event that's now increasingly looking like it was the Bitcoin (BTC), which is up roughly 120% from a year ago.

In November 2022, the FTX collapse wiped nearly $300 billion off the market cap, impacting several cryptocurrencies. The ones that suffered the most were tokens with deep financial ties to FTX, including Solana (SOL), Serum (SRM), and the exchange's own token, FTX Token (FTT).

Crypto market capitalization daily price chart. Source: TradingView

But a year later, things have not only improved for BTC, but for most cryptocurrencies impacted by the FTX collapse.

Here are the top-gainers (from the top-30 by market capitalization) that would have yielded the biggest profit if bought in November 2022.

Solana up 660% from FTX crash bottom

Solana's price plummeted by over 50% to $8 after the FTX collapse. The selloff occurred primarily because FTX and its sister firm, Alameda Research, held about 55 million SOL, triggering fears of a dump to plug liquidity holes.

Nonetheless, buying SOL a year ago would have produced a profit of over 660% today.

Solana's gains have largely stemmed from an overall upside sentiment in the crypto market, led by hopes about a Spot Bitcoin ETF approval in the U.S. At the same time, SOL's price has also benefited from subsiding fears about a potential dump by FTX.

#FTXFTX has sold 6,986,554 $SOL in the past few weeks, for ~$280.2M $USD.They are completely OUT of unlocked $SOL.The only $SOL they have exposure to is locked up, most until 2027-2028, just in time to sell the bottom of the next bear market.#SOLANA can commence UP ONLY. pic.twitter.com/Qu2z843oxS

— Curb◎ (@CryptoCurb) November 14, 2023

FTX Token rival OKB is up 275%

OKX crypto exchange's token OKB was among the least-affected tokens by the FTX fiasco. Moreover, it has benefited greatly in terms of price after its top rival went bust.

Buying OKB at the FTX-led bottom of $17.20 a year ago would have yielded investors a 275% profit today.

OKB/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

OKB's price gains were Binance's loss, and its token BNB (BNB) has underperformed the market significantly as the exchange faces legal pressure in the United States. 

BNB has underperformed many of the top-30 cryptos over the past year, up only 16% from the FTX-bottom.

Chainlink 

Chainlink (LINK) had fallen by up to 40% following the FTX collapse. But its lower exposure to the crypto exchange, coupled with development updates, has resulted in a sharp price recovery since the event.

Notably, buying LINK in November 2022 at $5.68 would have produced over 180% profits today.

LINKUSD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

Factors that helped LINK price rally in recent months include the launch of a new proof-of-reserve product, growing adoption, and increasing demand among professional investors as suggested by Grayscale's Chainlink trust trading at a 170% premium to LINK's spot price.

Grayscale Investments LINK premium rate. Source: Coinglass

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.