Sonic raises new funding and unveils ACM protocol to turn attention into liquidity

Sonic wants to make attention tradeable. The Solana-based startup has unveiled its ACM protocol upgrade, a move it believes will transform impressions, clicks, and transactions into a new form of capital. Backed by a fresh round of institutional funding, Sonic is positioning itself as the attention layer of Solana, building what it calls Attention Capital Markets (ACM).

The company isn’t starting from scratch. Sonic first tested the mechanics of rewarding attention through SonicX, a tap-to-earn game built inside TikTok that drew more than two million users. That experiment set the stage for its larger ambition: turning raw engagement into programmable value. The ACM framework introduces standardized metrics, epochs, and reward distribution designed to make attention measurable, verifiable, and liquid.

Chris Zhu, Sonic’s CEO, frames the upgrade as a turning point. “The ACM protocol upgrade marks the beginning of a new age where attention itself becomes capital,” he said. “Backed by leading investors, groundbreaking research, and real consumer applications, Sonic is architecting the Attention Economy for builders, institutions, and communities worldwide.”

Investors like DWF Labs and Awaken Finance have joined the push, signaling confidence in the concept. Sonic also teamed up with NYU professor Xi Chen, a noted voice in computational economics, who co-authored the ACM whitepaper. The research outlines the theoretical foundation for programmable attention as a capital market, giving the project intellectual weight beyond crypto hype.

With the ACM launch, Sonic is extending its reach beyond gaming into broader economic infrastructure. The network captures both off-chain signals—like impressions and clicks—and on-chain data such as transactions and trading volume. This verifiable data layer allows developers to build a new class of applications where attention, yield, and assets intersect.

Momentum is building around the ecosystem. Infrastructure providers and consumer apps are beginning to integrate ACM into their own products, moving the idea from concept into early adoption. Sonic calls this shift “The Sonic Shift,” a transition from gaming origins to programmable attention, from signals to capital, and from isolated apps to open markets of attention.

At its core, Sonic is betting that attention—traditionally tracked by advertisers and platforms—can be standardized and traded much like currency. If the model works, the company could lay the foundation for a new kind of market on Solana, one where the time and clicks of users don’t just generate ad revenue, but become liquid assets in their own right.