Sonic Labs has picked crypto capital markets firm GSR as the official market maker partner for Sonic blockchain’s native token.
GSR will help Sonic (S) token gain market traction by delivering deep liquidity and strategic guidance, the Sonic Labs team said in an announcement.
As well as becoming the official market maker partner, GSR, a trading firm founded in 2013 and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, will offer full-stack support for S.
The partnership targets the broader decentralized finance, with GSR set to offer support to early-stage projects building within Sonic’s DeFi ecosystem. Sonic Labs says GSR’s emphasis on transparency is key to this collaboration.
“In today’s market, we look for more than just liquidity providers,” said Michael Kong, chief executive officer of Sonic Labs. “We seek partners who are embedded in the network, contribute to DeFi, engage with projects directly, support global community events, and keep open, proactive communication. GSR exemplifies this standard.”
Sonic Labs launched the mainnet of Sonic in December 2024, with the S token and transition from Fantom’s FTM token happening at a 1:1 swap in early 2025. The layer-1 blockchain offers Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility, verifiable 10,000 transactions per second and sub-second finality.
Meanwhile, GSR’s footprint in the digital asset market includes over-the-counter trading, derivatives and market making. The firm is also a multi-stage investor. Its latest portfolio investments include Sei, The Open Network and Ethena, the synthetic dollar protocol on Ethereum.
In a comment on the partnership with Sonic Labs, GSR head of U.S. business development Alex Taaffe said:
“At GSR, our role goes beyond trading, we’re here to help teams scale and build what’s next. We support innovative protocols with liquidity, helping founders get tokens market-ready, and encourage sustainable on-chain activity to drive long-term growth. Sonic’s speed, infrastructure, and community-first approach stand out in a meaningful way.”