SOON, the Ethereum Layer 2 using the Solana Virtual Machine, raised $22 million in an NFT sale ahead of mainnet launch

The Solana Optimistic Network, often referred to as SOON, raised $22 million through an NFT sale as it prepared to launch its mainnet.

SOON is something of a rarity for Ethereum scaling layers as it is built using the Solana Virtual Machine. 

“Solana’s SVM has joined Ethereum’s EVM to become one of the two most important developer environments in crypto, and SOON is an ideal solution for making it ubiquitous across all blockchains,” Alexander Pack, co-founder of Hack VC, which led the multi-million dollar raise, said in a statement.

ABCDE, Hypersphere, SNZ Capital, Anagram, ArkStream Capital, GeekCartel, PAKA, Web3Port and MH Venture also participated in the funding round. 

The project has previously received support from prominent Solana ecosystem members, ​​including network co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana Foundation President Lily Liu and Robinson Burkey, who co-created the Wormhole Foundation supporting the important Solana bridge. Mustafa Al-Bassam, co-founder of Celestia Labs, is also a backer. 

“I spent the vast majority of my intellectual, social, and financial capital in the EVM ecosystem in the last decade, but it is exciting to see the rise of SVM and the possibility to enhance SVM's expressiveness and scalability in other ecosystems,” BMAN, co-founder of ABCDELabs, said. 

The Solana Virtual Machine is the core execution layer of the Solana blockchain. Unlike the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the SVM processes smart contracts and decentralized applications using a parallel processing model. In comparison, EVM employs a sequential processing model.

Over 11,000 ETH, worth about $36 million, have been locked on the SOON testnet bridge. The project hopes to expand to additional chains beyond Ethereum.

SOON refers to itself as “the first true SVM rollup.” It further differentiates itself from both EVM and SVM models by using a “decoupled SVM architecture” that separates its executive from settlement layers. 

Funds raised through the “COMMing SOON” NFT mint will help support the growth of the SOON ecosystem. 51% of the network’s SOON tokens will also be allocated to the community. 

According to a popup message on the project’s website, users based in the U.S., China, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, Iran, Libya, North and South Sudan,, and Ukraine are barred from the sale.