The Fantom Foundation, which created the Fantom network, was established in 2018 by South Korean computer scientist Ahn Byung Ik. Fantom Opera, the network’s mainnet, was launched in December 2019, with Fantom (FTM) as its native token. It was designed to be an open-source, permissionless blockchain and was launched as an alternative to Ethereum.Fantom not only rivals Ethereum’s smart contract capabilities but also offers more efficiency — it can handle thousands of transactions per second with the cost of transactions being a fraction of a cent. Therefore, the speed and efficiency of Fantom make it more scalable at a lower cost than Ethereum. Currently, its focus is on three main aspects - scalability, security and decentralization.&nbsp;At the heart of the Fantom network lies the FTM coin, which can be used for payments, transaction fees, staking, and on-chain governance. The current leadership of the Fantom Foundation includes CEO Michael Kong and CTO Quan Nguyen. Until early 2022, popular crypto figures, Andre Cronje and Anton Nell were also associated with FTM.<h2 dir="ltr">FTM price&nbsp;</h2>The price of FTM in USD terms did not see any major movements until it rose roughly 5,000% between Jan. 1 - Feb. 25, 2021, going from around $0.016 to over $0.87.In May of the same year, FTM price climbed above $0.90, but the major growth spurt came in October when it set an all-time high price of $3.48.However, news of Andre Cronje and senior solutions architect Anton Nell leaving FTM and the crypto space in Q1 2022 caused panic and led to the price of FTM dropping to almost $1. FTM's market cap consequently dwindled to $2.76 billion.Since then, the Fantom Foundation has assured market participants of continued development and growth, and FTM's price has somewhat recovered. Future price movements of FTM are going to be linked to the network's adoption and growth of its DeFi ecosystem.<h2 dir="ltr">How FTM works</h2>The Fantom network uses a combination of proof-of-stake (PoS) and Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance (aBFT) consensus mechanisms, also known as the Lachesis consensus mechanism. According to the Fantom Foundation, its consensus mechanism is faster, more scalable, modular and more secure than others.&nbsp;The Lachesis consensus mechanism is asynchronous, meaning network data can be processed at different times. The aBFT process ensures that the network can tolerate up to two-thirds of its nodes being faulty or malicious without any negative impact. Additionally, in the aBFT process, every node can reach consensus independently and nodes do not need to exchange finalized blocks. Since there is no ‘leader’ node responsible for creating blocks, it boosts transaction speed and security on the Fantom network. Typically, FTM <a href="https://fantom.foundation/fantom-faq/">transactions are finalized within 1-2 seconds</a>.Built with FTM’s software development kit, Fantom Opera’s main use case is to host decentralized applications (dApps) on the network, which operate on their own specific blockchains linked to Opera.<h2 dir="ltr">FTM news, updates and highlights</h2>In June 2018, <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180621005601/en/FANTOM-Raises-40-Mil-USD-to-Blaze-a-Trail-Beyond-Blockchain">Fantom Foundation raised $40 million</a> to fund the development of the network. By April 2021, it had bagged <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/04/28/2218995/0/en/Fantom-Foundation-Continues-to-Attract-Big-Investors-HyperChain-Capital-Invests-an-Additional-15-Million.html">an additional $15 million</a>.&nbsp;Since its launch, Fantom has undertaken several projects. In 2020, for instance, it undertook a <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2020/07/06/afghanistan-approves-blockchain-project-to-help-tackle-scourge-of-counterfeit-meds/">pilot project in Afghanistan</a> to use blockchain to track the movement of medicinal drugs through the supply chain.It has also dedicated significant resources to developing its DeFi ecosystem. For instance, in 2021, the foundation committed around <a href="https://fantom.foundation/blog/announcing-370m-ftm-incentive-program/">$314 million worth of FTM tokens</a> to an incentive program for attracting DeFi platforms.&nbsp;In March 2022, the announcement of Cronje and Anton Nell, a senior solutions architect at Fantom Foundation, leaving the crypto world sent FTM price crashing according to our live FTM price chart. Cronje’s departure created chaos as Nell included Fantom in the list of around 25 apps and services that he and Cronje were "terminating".&nbsp;However, the foundation released a <a href="https://fantom.foundation/blog/a-statement-from-the-fantom-foundation/">statement</a> clarifying that Nell and Cronje were not core developers of Fantom. The foundation noted that Andre Cronje was an advisor for FTM and helped set up a team of developers who will continue to work on the project.<h2 dir="ltr">Frequently asked questions about FTM</h2><ul><li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">Can you mine or stake FTM?</li></ul>FTM coins cannot be mined since the blockchain uses the Lachesis consensus mechanism, which does not involve mining, unlike proof-of-work (PoW). However, if you own FTM tokens, you can stake them for rewards in exchange for validating transactions in FTM's leaderless proof-of-stake model.<ul><li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">What are some of the best FTM wallets?</li></ul>FTM can be stored in Fantom’s official wallet, fWallet,&nbsp; MetaMask, and Trust Wallet, as well as hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor, among others. You can also store them on exchange wallets like the Coinbase and OKX wallets.<ul><li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">What can you do with FTM?</li></ul>FTM holders can use their assets to pay for network fees, stake them to help secure the network by validating transactions, and make payments. FTM can also be used for on-chain governance, meaning token holders can use their assets to vote on policy changes or improvements.<ul><li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">How to buy FTM?</li></ul>You can buy FTM by exchanging your <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/bitcoin-btc">BTC</a>, <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth">ETH</a>, or <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/tether-usdt">USDT</a> tokens with FTM on exchanges like HitBTC and decentralized exchanges like SushiSwap, or buy it using fiat currency on exchanges like Nexo.&nbsp;

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