Sonic Labs Unveils USSD Stablecoin as Network Looks to Reverse Decline

Sonic Labs has introduced the US Sonic Dollar (USSD), a native stablecoin designed to serve as the primary stable liquidity layer across Sonic’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The launch arrives at a pivotal moment for the Layer 1 blockchain, which has seen its key metrics slide sharply over the past year.

Built on Frax’s frxUSD infrastructure, USSD combines permissionless on-chain access with institutional-grade backing from BlackRock, Superstate, and WisdomTree. The stablecoin is fully pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar and is available with zero minting fees through non-custodial smart contracts, mintable from over 10 chains using supported assets such as USDC, USDT, PYUSD, and tokenized Treasury products.

Under Pressure

Last year, Sonic reached $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) within just 66 days of launching, but that momentum did not sustain. TVL fell by two-thirds from $1.1 billion in May 2025 to around $367 million by September. According to DefiLlama, the chain’s TVL now sits around $34 million, a fraction of its peak.

The S token has followed a similar trajectory. S reached an all-time high of $1.03 in January 2025 and has since fallen roughly 96%, according to Coingecko. Over the past month alone, S has dropped approximately 13%, and currently trades at a market capitalization of $150 million.

Vertical Integration

Against that backdrop, Sonic is framing USSD less as a product launch and more as a structural fix.

“When a network’s primary stable asset is external, liquidity fragments and incentives become harder to align,” Sonic said in a blog post.

Yield generated by the assets backing USSD is designed to flow back into the Sonic ecosystem rather than being retained externally, supporting buybacks and ecosystem incentives as usage grows. The idea is to create a self-reinforcing liquidity loop rather than relying on mercenary capital or third-party market makers.

USSD is live on Sonic, Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and seven additional chains.