Sony, the 78-year-old Japanese electronics giant, is the latest legacy megacorp to explore blockchain technology. On Tuesday, the company announced that it is officially launching “Soneum,” a general-purpose blockchain platform.
The team behind Sony Block Solutions Labs (SBSL), a joint project between Sony Group and Singapore-based Startale Labs describe Soneuim – technically a layer 2 network on top of Ethereum – as “a versatile general-purpose blockchain platform” built to support a diverse ecosystem of gaming, finance and entertainment apps. According to SBSL, the launch comes after a four-month test period that involved participation from 14 million wallets.
Sony’s network is even more evidence that traditional technology companies could once again be within the capacity of blockchain to connect and commercialize the future of media. The chain 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, simplifies blockchain interactions and evolves web3 from a niche hobby into an everyday experience.”
The team touched Optimism’s OP Stack to build their network – a customizable framework that allows developers to use the optimistic rollup technology to transact in 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 ones. Base and Ink net. 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 Optimismu Foundation, which manages the development of the OP Stack, has awarded grants to companies that agree to use its technology. SBSL declined to comment on how many OP tokens they will receive as part of this deal, however previous report indicates that the grants of Optimism can be substantial.
In August 2023, Coinbase received to 118 million OP tokens – worth $182 million at the time, or $192 million at today’s prices – to use OP Stack for Base chain. CoinDesk also said that Kraken received up to 25 million OP tokens, worth about $100 million, when he agreed to use the OP Stack in January 2024 (now worth $42 million).
Similar grants are being handed out by Optimism’s competitors like Polygon and Arbitrum, each of which is battling to build its own interconnected network of blockchains.
Read more: Sony, Electronics Pioneer Behind Walkman, Starts Own Blockchain ‘Soneium’
