Thread by @AustinBarack

1/n In 2021, $FTM achieved incredible growth across all key metrics. I expect this growth to continue, with Fantom positioned as one of the most exciting base layers heading into 2022.

Here's why it should be on everyone's list of key projects to watch:

🧵

2/n Technology: Consensus

- $FTM employs a DAG based (Directed Acyclic Graph) aBFT (Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerant) consensus mechanism called Lachesis, secured by Proof of Stake

- This allows for an extremely efficient, scalable, and low cost method of validating trxs

3/n Technology (Lachesis cont.)

- Transactions are confirmed nearly instantly (within 1 second now, and soon faster). Finality is deterministic (vs. probabilistic as with Nakamoto Consensus used by ETH and BTC)

4/n Technology (Lachesis cont.)

- In contrast to Fantom's consensus mechanism, in Nakamoto Consensus finality of a trx is probabilistic and requires a certain # of confirmations to be assured of its correctness (eg. typically 35 trxs on ETH on 6 trxs on BTC)

5/n Technology (Lachesis cont.)

- DAG based aBFT consensus is a significant innovation and allows for the type of time-to-finality, tps, and cost structure needed for the long term
- 1000s of trx/second, trx costs in the cents, scalable to 1000s of nodes, 1 sec finality

6/n Technology - EVM compatibility

- Opera Mainnet is the environment upon which decentralized applications can deploy on Fantom
- Opera is Ethereum compatible. Any app built on $ETH and written in Solidity can deploy multichain to $FTM nearly immediately with minimal changes

7/n Technology - EVM compatibility

- EVM compatibility is extremely important because it allows apps struggling with high gas fees and slow transaction times on ETH to deploy on Fantom as a pressure release valve mechanism, providing users with fast and cheap transactions

8/n Technology - EVM compatibility

- Just as importantly, both users and developers can use the same tools making the experience seamless. This includes e.g. wallets (Metamask), dev tools (Truffle), etc

9/n Technology - EVM compatibility

- Because of this seamless compatibility, a number of ETH based apps have focused on $FTM for their multi-chain deployment strategy including $SPELL, $YFI, $CRV, $ICE, $SUSHI, and many others

10/n Technology - EVM compatibility

- EVM compatibility also allows synergies to flow in both directions. Native FTM apps can start on FTM for the incredible community and strong technology (fast, cheap, scalable), knowing that they can easily expand multichain to ETH soon after

11/n Technology - Modular Architecture

- $FTM architecture allows for the creation of app specific chains beyond Opera, customized for particular use cases as demanded by the app, but all interoperable and secured by Lachesis

12/n Technology - Fantom Virtual Machine

- The FVM is currently being developed (expected in 2022) which will improve scalability, cost, and finality on Fantom beyond the limitations set by the EVM, while still retaining EVM compatibility

13/n Immense Traction with No Sign of Slowing Down

- TVL growth from sub $100MM as recently as Q2 2021 to $6.9B today
- Active address growth from 5K in Jan 2021 to over 1.5MM today
- Over 150MM trxs on Fantom to-date

14/n Growth Catalysts - @FantomFDN Ecosystem Incentive Program

- One of the most well designed ecosystem incentive programs. Any project that achieves & maintains specific TVL/active user levels is eligible
- At current $FTM price, incentives valued > $1B
bit.ly/3pQp7Zp

15/n Growth Catalysts - @FantomFDN Ecosystem Incentive Program

- Projects are the best stewards of growth capital. Can decide on funds use according to their growth objectives (token incentives, hiring, grants, etc)
- Program has led to significant activity growth since launch

16/n Growth Catalysts - Frog Nation

- @danielesesta and @squirrelcrypto are active in deploying Frog Nation projects ( $SPELL $ICE $SUSHI $TIME) on $FTM as the core high performant base layer environment bringing with them hundreds of thousands of active users 🐸🤝🐸

17/n Growth Catalysts - Frog Nation

- Additionally, it's important to remember that Frog Nation has early roots in the $FTM ecosystem
- @PopsicleFinance catalyzed early Fantom DeFi and initial $ICE holders are some of the most ardent 🐸 and $FTM supporters #Isvikingers 🧊

18/n Growth Catalysts - Team and Community

- The @FantomFDN built and persevered through the entire 2018 - 2019 bear market, building impressive technology, an incredible dev and user experience, and a passionate community

19/n Growth Catalysts - Team and Community

- @AndreCronjeTech @CryptoMHchn @michaelfkong @theotherpomp @harryyeh @FTMAlerts John Morris and many others continue to work non-stop to drive forward Fantom architecture development, ecosystem growth and synergies, and community

20/n Growth Catalysts - Andre Cronje

- @AndreCronjeTech is not just the architect of Fantom's consensus mechanism / design but also a non-stop prolific builder
- Andre has built $YFI, $KP3R, FixedForex, @RarityGame, Artion, all with a focus on $FTM, bringing in many new users

21/n L1 Narrative

- The L1 token narrative played a dominant role in market outperformance in 2021 and I don't expect that to change in 2022
- I expect the dominant L1s including $ETH, $SOL, $AVAX, $LUNA, $MATIC, and $FTM to continue to outperform

22/n L1 Narrative

- At a $7.2B market cap, $FTM trades at a fraction of its peers' market cap both on an absolute basis and as a ratio to TVL
- $FTM also has one of the lowest priced tokens of major L1s which should help drive performance due to price/unit bias

23/n L1 Narrative

- One of the reasons for L1 outperformance vs. $BTC is that they are productive assets (stake for yield, lend via DeFi, etc). $FTM POS staking yields of ~10% are extremely attractive

24/n

There are a number of other reasons why I am excited about $FTM and I will likely build this thread into a larger post diving deeper into Lachesis, FVM, growth/traction, etc

25/25

I've written about $FTM many times in the past but am super excited to share my thesis in greater length today. Hope you enjoyed it!