Sony, the 78-year-old Japanese electronics giant, is the latest megacompany to explore blockchain technology. On Tuesday, the company announced the official launch of “Soneium,” a general-purpose blockchain platform.
The team behind Sony Block Solutions Labs (SBSL), a joint project between Sony Group and Singapore-based Startale Labs, describes Soneium – technically a layer 2 network on top of Ethereum – as “a blockchain platform general-purpose application” designed to support a diverse ecosystem of gaming, financial and entertainment applications. According to SBSL, the launch comes after a four-month testing period that involved the participation of 14 million wallets.
Sony’s network is further evidence that traditional technology companies may once again be interested in blockchain’s ability to connect and commercialize the future of media. The channel aims to “bridge the gap between web2 and web3 audiences, especially for creators, fans and the community,” SBSL said in a statement shared with CoinDesk. “The platform prioritizes user-centered design, simplifying blockchain interactions and evolving web3 from a niche hobby into an everyday experience.
The team leveraged Optimism’s OP Stack to develop their network, a customizable framework that allows developers to use optimistic stacking technology to transact on Ethereum quickly and at low cost.
Other companies using OP Stack include US crypto exchanges Coinbase and Kraken, which use the technology to power their popular Base and Ink networks. Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange, and Worldcoin, the digital passport founded by Sam Altman, also use OP Stack to power their layer 2 blockchain networks.
In many cases, the Optimism Foundation, which oversees the development of the OP Stack, has awarded grants to companies that have agreed to use its technology. SBSL declined to comment on how many OP tokens it would receive under this deal, although previous reports indicate that Optimism’s grants may be substantial.
In August 2023, Coinbase received up to 118 million OP tokens – worth $182 million at the time, or $192 million at current prices – to use OP Stack for the base chain. CoinDesk also reported that Kraken received up to 25 million OP tokens, worth around $100 million, when it agreed to use the OP stack in January 2024 (currently worth 42 million dollars).
Similar grants are being made by Optimism competitors like Polygon and Arbitrum, each vying to build their own interconnected network of blockchains.
Read more: Sony, electronics pioneer behind Walkman, launches its own blockchain “Soneium”
