Sony, the Japanese tech behemoth, is launching its own blockchain. It's a big deal. Because big companies are capable of making big difference, thus insuring the increasing rate of the global crypto adoption.
The company behind the Walkman is now eyeing Web3. Sony Block Solutions Labs, a joint venture with Singapore's Startale Labs, announced the move on Friday.
Their new baby? It's called Soneium. It's a layer-2 network built on Ethereum.
Soneium will use Optimism's OP Stack. This tech allows for cheaper transactions on Ethereum.
The project signals a possible renewed interest from big companies in blockchain tech for consumers.
Soneium's testnet is set to launch in the coming days. It'll join the ranks of other OP Stack users like Coinbase's "Base" and Worldcoin's "World Chain".
Sota Watanabe, CEO of Startale Labs and director at Sony Block Solutions Labs, is spearheading the project. He's no newbie to the crypto world.
Watanabe told CoinDesk: "The first year is all about onboarding Web3 people." He's keeping it real about the tech's current limitations.
But Watanabe's got big plans. "Within two years, we're going to onboard Sony products," he said. Think Sony Bank, Sony Music, Sony Pictures – the works.
And it doesn't stop there. "In three years, we would like to onboard not only Sony, but also all enterprises and all general dapps on top of it," Watanabe added.
But he also mentioned that this is a general timeline. "We're going to try to onboard enterprises as many as possible from the first year,” Watanabe added.
Startale Labs is going all-in on Soneium. They're moving away from their previous project, Astar zkEVM.
“Astar zkEVM will be integrating its assets and underlying infrastructure with Soneium,” Watanabe explains.
Sony's diving into the deep end of crypto. Will they sink or swim? Only time will tell.