SOON

SOON, which stands for Solana Optimistic Network, is a high-performance blockchain infrastructure project that brings Solana’s Virtual Machine speed and efficiency to other Layer 1 networks. Instead of building a standalone chain, SOON operates as an execution environment that settles on Ethereum and lets developers access Solana’s powerful SVM engine through Optimistic Rollups. Think of it as giving Ethereum developers a Solana-speed engine under their existing infrastructure. The SOON team pioneered Decoupled SVM, allowing SVM rollups to deploy across different Layer 1 networks with native fraud proofs, lower data availability costs, and horizontal scaling capacity.

SOON’s primary mission is to solve blockchain’s user adoption challenge through the Super Adoption Stack, designed to standardize the high-performance Solana Virtual Machine across major Layer 1 ecosystems. The three pillars of this stack are SOON Mainnet, SOON Stack, and InterSOON. SOON’s Super Adoption Stack creates native interoperability among all SOON chains and with Solana and TON. This means developers building on SOON can reach users across multiple ecosystems without rebuilding their applications for each chain.

The platform’s use cases focus on problems blocking broader blockchain adoption. Many popular DeFi platforms suffer from high gas fees and slow transactions, and moving crypto and NFTs between blockchains is often costly. SOON aims to let users move assets between Ethereum and Solana, keeping liquidity high and transaction costs low. Beyond DeFi, SOON applications let users benefit from Ethereum’s liquidity and Solana’s low costs without switching platforms. For developers, SOON reduces friction in deploying cross-chain applications by providing tools that work across the multi-chain ecosystem without requiring a new programming environment.

SOON was co-founded in 2024 by Joanna Zeng, who serves as CEO. Zeng’s career path included Wall Street as a currency trader and major crypto firms like Aleo, Optimism, and Coinbase before co-founding SOON. The team chose a technically complex “Decoupled SVM” architecture over a simpler fork-based approach to better balance security and performance. This delayed the mainnet launch by three months but resulted in a more robust product. The project launched its mainnet in early 2025. In less than a year, SOON moved from concept to live mainnet, reflecting both the urgency of the Layer 2 race and the strength of its early backing.

On the funding side, SOON’s early capital came from an unconventional route before attracting institutional investors. In 2024, the project held a community-focused “co-builder” round without venture capital participation, then raised $22 million through an NFT mint titled “COMMing SOON,” with participation from firms like Hack VC, ABCDE, Hypersphere, and SNZ Capital. That NFT-based fundraise showed genuine community demand before any mainnet code went live. The institutional interest that followed validated the technical direction. SOON then secured a $5 million strategic investment from Jump Crypto and Amber Group, along with angel investors including Nana Murugesan of zkSync, Switchboard co-founder Chris Hermida, Mark Hull of Kamino, and Tori Cohen of Wormhole. Jump Crypto cited SOON’s decoupled SVM stack and its mission to bring SVM-grade execution to where users already are as key reasons for the investment.

$SOON is the native cryptocurrency of the Solana Optimistic Network ecosystem and carries functional weight within the platform. It powers governance, staking, transactions, and ecosystem incentives. Unlike tokens used mainly for speculative governance votes, $SOON is embedded in the network’s mechanics. Holders can stake $SOON to receive $gSOON, a liquid staking token that unlocks yield and benefits like access to the copy-trading platform simpfor.fun. This staking model keeps tokens productive rather than idle in wallets. The token also supports community governance and incentivizes builders across the SOON ecosystem. As SOON expands to more Layer 1 networks, $SOON’s gas utility grows with each new chain deployed through the SOON Stack.

$SOON tokens are available on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges for standard spot trading. To buy or sell larger amounts, or to acquire locked tokens or SAFT notes, Acquire.Fi’s OTC and Secondaries Marketplace is the right venue.

To buy SOON tokens OTC on Acquire.Fi, you have two options. You can browse existing sell listings and engage directly with sellers. Or you can submit a Buy listing with your preferred valuation and token amount, letting sellers come to you.

If you hold SOON tokens and want to exit your position, the process works in reverse. You can engage with existing buy listings or submit a Sell listing with your preferred terms to sell SOON tokens OTC on your timeline.

Once you submit a listing, Acquire.Fi handles coordination. The team conducts background checks, sends NDAs, and introduces counterparties. Buyers and sellers handle their own due diligence and payment settlement. Acquire.Fi is not a broker-dealer but actively assists to give each deal the best chance of closing. For large positions or complex deals, this hands-on support makes a meaningful difference.