SONY Chain is about to go live, taking a look at Sony's own L2

Author: Luccy

In September last year, Sota Watanabe, CEO of Web3 company Startale Labs, announced on its social media platform that Startale Labs has established a joint venture company Sony Block Solutions Labs with Sony to jointly develop Sony’s blockchain Sony Chain. Sota Watanabe serves as the director of the joint venture company.

In an interview with BlockBeats, Sota Watanabe revealed that he has maintained a close partnership with Sony subsidiary Sony Network Communications, and an external director of Startale Labs previously worked for the subsidiary and has been leading the Sony Chain project directly at the Sony headquarters since April of this year.

Startale Labs CEO Sota Watanabe (Startale Labs), image source: coindesk

Today, Sony Block Solutions Labs officially announced details of Sony Chain - Soneium, which will be launched as an L2 solution on Ethereum and will utilize Optimism Rollup technology, built on Optimism’s OP Stack blockchain ecosystem. Soneium is expected to go live on the testnet in the next few days, and will then join Optimism’s superchain to expand the ecosystem.

According to the official introduction, Soneium’s partners include Astar Network, Optimism, Chainlink, Alchemy, Circle, Circle.

Embrace OP Stack

Sota Watanabe’s another identity is the founder of Astar Network, which is one of the first parachains to go live in the Polkadot ecosystem. In September last year, it officially announced a partnership with Polygon Labs to create Astar zkEVM, developed using the second-layer protocol of Polygon’s chain development kit (CDK), and the Mainnet has been launched this year.

Here’s a brief explanation of the relationship between Astar Network, Sony Chain, and Startale Labs. Overall, these three products or companies are all related to Sota. Sota is the founder of Startale Labs and Astar Network. Startale Labs inherited the technology and knowledge base that Sota obtained from operating Astar Network. Startale Labs also collaborates with Sony, obtaining funding from Sony and establishing a joint venture, working closely together on the Sony Chain project.

Astar Network’s progress in the ZK aspect has become the focus of market attention, with investor DFG expressing to BlockBeats that they value Astar Network’s ability as one of the two Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains to be launched on Polkadot, and they greatly appreciate the features of Polkadot architecture and EVM compatibility, as well as the capabilities of Sota’s team.

As the founder of Astar Network, Sota Watanabe has been involved in the development of public blockchains since 2019. However, with the fading of Polkadot, Astar Network has also gradually lost attention in the domestic market. Now that Soneium has been officially launched, Astar also announced the transition of Astar Layer 2 and the community to Soneium.

This move aims to more closely integrate Astar Network with Soneium, leveraging the strengths of both ecosystems to drive the realization of Soneium’s vision. Specifically:

· Enhance the utility of ASTR: integrate ASTR as a key asset into the Soneium L2 ecosystem. Maintain its role in ecosystem projects and expand its utility.

· Using the Soneium ecosystem: placing Soneium L2 at the core of innovative applications, promoting adoption and participation.

· Community Empowerment: Create more opportunities for existing users to be early adopters of new projects and dApps. Enable the community to become a primary participant in emerging initiatives within Soneium L2.

· Future Outlook: Positioning the potential advantages of ASTR in the expanding Soneium ecosystem. Prepare for the second phase of Astar Evolution to make future opportunities clearer.

“GM with Soneium”

Sony’s exploration in the Web3 industry is multifaceted, covering the metaverse and Non-fungible Token (NFT) space. However, Sota Watanabe has stated that Sony Chain will not only follow gaming or NFT, but will serve all sectors, becoming a universal blockchain.

Soneium will be built on the existing Ethereum infrastructure and will be responsible for data processing to address the issues of slow processing speed and high fees typically associated with L1 solutions. Soneium Op Stack and Superchain create a scalable, EVM compatible, and developer-friendly blockchain.

As an Ethereum Layer 2, Soneium leverages Sony Group’s massive global distribution network in entertainment, finance, electronics, and gaming to bridge the gap between Web3 innovation and everyday consumer applications, truly bringing blockchain technology into the mainstream, i.e. Go Mainstream with Soneium. Soneium may provide comprehensive Web3 solutions from infrastructure to the Application Layer by developing Web3 underlying infrastructure blockchain.

To this end, Soneium is planning a comprehensive development ecosystem and supporting advanced Smart Contract functionality, with scalable infrastructure designed to handle high-capacity applications, ensuring the project can develop without limitations. In addition, Soneium will provide developers and creators with extensive documentation and equip them with third-party development tools necessary for trap development and launching applications, enabling developers of various skill levels to easily get started and advance their projects.

Under the “GM with Soneium” concept, in addition to the existing applications for Web3 services, Sony Block Solutions Labs will also consider new services associated with business within the Sony Group to create use cases that can inspire people who have never used Web3 services.

For example, support creators to expand their creativity and strengthen their interaction with fan communities. Specifically, Sony Block Solutions Labs will research the protection of creators’ copyrights, support for a new profit return mechanism for creators and fans, and opportunities for creators to be active in the digital and real world.

In an interview with BlockBeats, Sota Watanabe said that Astar represents Japan to some extent, and if Astar fails, it will have a great impact on Japan’s Web3. The ability to dialogue with large companies and regulatory agencies is also Astar’s advantage. With the cooperation of Sony and Astar, Soneium may truly realize its vision of a universal blockchain platform.