Sony Chain Officially Announced: Sony’s Own L2 Soneium is Coming
Last September, Sota Watanabe, CEO of Web3 company Startale Labs, announced on his social media platform that Startale Labs had formed a joint venture with Sony called Sony Block Solutions Labs to develop Sony’s blockchain, Sony Chain. Sota Watanabe will serve as the head of this joint venture.
In an interview with BlockBeats, Sota Watanabe revealed that he had maintained close cooperation with Sony’s subsidiary, Sony Network Communications. An external director of Startale Labs had previously worked at this subsidiary and began leading the Sony Chain project directly from Sony’s headquarters in April of this year.
Today, Sony Block Solutions Labs officially unveiled detailed information about Sony Chain—Soneium. This blockchain will launch as an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) using Optimism Rollup technology, built with the OP Stack from the Optimism blockchain ecosystem. Soneium is expected to go live on a test network in the coming days and will subsequently join Optimism’s Superchain to expand the ecosystem.
According to official reports, Soneium’s partners include Astar Network, Optimism, Chainlink, Alchemy, and Circle.
“ZK Team” is Building OP Rollup for Sony
Sota Watanabe is also the founder of Astar Network, one of the first parachains to go live in the Polkadot ecosystem. In September last year, Astar Network announced a partnership with Polygon Labs to create Astar zkEVM, a Layer 2 protocol developed using the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK), which launched its mainnet earlier this year.
To clarify the relationship between Astar Network, Sony Chain, and Startale Labs: these three entities are all associated with Sota. He is the founder of both Startale Labs and Astar Network. Startale Labs inherited the technical and knowledge foundation that Sota built through Astar Network operations. Startale Labs also collaborates with Sony, receiving funding and forming a joint venture with them to closely cooperate on the Sony Chain project.
Astar Network’s progress in Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology has drawn significant market attention. Investor DFG told BlockBeats that they highly value Astar Network’s capability as one of the two Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains launching on Polkadot. They admire the compatibility between Polkadot’s architecture and EVM, as well as Sota and his team’s skills.
As the founder of Astar Network, Sota Watanabe has been involved in public blockchain development since 2019. However, as Polkadot has faded from focus, Astar Network has gradually lost attention in the domestic market. Now, with the official release of Soneium, Astar has announced that it will transition Astar Layer 2 and its community to Soneium.
This move aims to more closely integrate Astar Network with Soneium, leveraging the strengths of both ecosystems to achieve Soneium’s vision. This will be reflected in:
- Enhancing ASTR’s Utility: Integrating ASTR as a key asset in the Soneium L2 ecosystem, maintaining its role in ecosystem projects and expanding its utility.
- Leveraging the Soneium Ecosystem: Positioning Soneium L2 at the core of innovative applications, driving adoption and participation.
- Empowering the Community: Creating more opportunities for existing users to become early adopters of new projects and dApps, making the community key participants in emerging initiatives within Soneium L2.
- Future Prospects: Positioning ASTR to take advantage of potential benefits within the expanding Soneium ecosystem, preparing for the second phase of Astar Evolution and clarifying future opportunities.
“GM with Soneium”
Sony’s exploration in the Web3 industry has largely focused on the metaverse and NFT sectors. However, Sota Watanabe has stated that Sony Chain will not just focus on gaming or NFTs but will serve all sectors, becoming a universal blockchain.
Soneium will be built on existing Ethereum infrastructure, handling data processing to address the slow speeds and high fees typically associated with Layer 1 (L1) solutions. Soneium’s OP Stack and Superchain will create a scalable, EVM-compatible, developer-friendly blockchain.
As an Ethereum L2, Soneium aims to bridge the gap between Web3 innovation and everyday consumer applications, leveraging Sony Group’s vast global distribution network in entertainment, finance, electronics, and gaming. The goal is to truly bring blockchain technology into the mainstream—”Go Mainstream with Soneium.” By developing the underlying Web3 infrastructure blockchain, Soneium may offer a comprehensive Web3 solution from infrastructure to the application layer.
To achieve this, Soneium is planning to create an integrated development ecosystem that supports advanced smart contract functionalities. Its scalable infrastructure is designed to handle high-capacity applications, ensuring that projects can develop without limitations. Additionally, Soneium will provide developers and creators with extensive documentation and a suite of third-party development tools needed to develop and launch applications, making it easy for developers of all skill levels to get started and advance their projects.
Under the “GM with Soneium” concept, Sony Block Solutions Labs will also explore new services related to Sony Group’s businesses, creating use cases that can attract people who have never used Web3 services before.
For example, Soneium may support creators in expanding their creativity and strengthening their interactions with fan communities. Specifically, Sony Block Solutions Labs will explore protecting creators’ rights, supporting new profit-return mechanisms for creators and fans, and providing opportunities for creators to be active in both the digital and real worlds.
In an interview with BlockBeats, Sota Watanabe stated that Astar represents Japan to some extent, and if Astar fails, it would have a significant impact on Japan’s Web3 industry. Astar’s ability to engage in dialogue with major companies and regulators is one of its advantages. With Sony’s collaboration, Soneium may realize its vision of becoming a universal blockchain platform.