Sony Block Solutions Labs (Sony BSL) has officially launched Soneium, its highly anticipated Layer 2 blockchain network built on Ethereum. The announcement came through a press release dated January 14, 2025, marking Sony's bold entry into the Web3 space.
The platform emerges from a collaboration between Sony Group and Startale Labs, designed to provide a user-centric decentralized ecosystem that simplifies Web3 adoption for developers and users alike.
Prior to the mainnet launch, Soneium underwent extensive testing through its "Soneium Minato" testnet phase, which began in August 2024. The testnet demonstrated impressive metrics, engaging over 15 million users and processing more than 47 million transactions. The platform currently maintains an average block time of 2 seconds and has surpassed 7.3 million total contracts.
Alongside the mainnet launch, Sony introduced two complementary projects: the Fan Marketing Platform by SNFT Inc. and the S.BLOX crypto assets exchange service. The Fan Marketing Platform enables creators and brands to leverage NFTs for fan rewards and marketing analysis, while S.BLOX provides opportunities for creators within the crypto space.
However, the launch day wasn't without controversy. The platform faced criticism from the Web3 community when it restricted access to certain meme tokens, including $Toro and $aibo, which were based on Sony's intellectual property. The company later clarified that these restrictions aimed to protect creator IP rights on the chain, offering a path to "rectification" for affected tokens.
Sota Watanabe, Director at Sony BSL, outlined the platform's vision: "Our goal with Soneium is simple but ambitious: to build an open internet where creativity flows freely and fairly, and to empower the next wave of users to embrace Web3."
The launch represents Sony's commitment to simplifying Web3 adoption while maintaining a balance between decentralization and intellectual property protection. With its robust infrastructure and comprehensive ecosystem approach, Soneium aims to bridge the gap between traditional users and blockchain technology.