Sony brings blockchain to the mainstream
By Abdul Al-Ali, Web3 Venture Investor, Decasonic
#GMWithSoneium is a testament to Sony Group’s commitment to driving mainstream adoption of blockchain technology. The phrase emerged from their recent joint venture with Startale Labs in the launch of their Ethereum Layer 2 solution, Soneium. As crypto natives, we are excited about companies with the vision of "onboarding the next billion users to the blockchain." However, few have the extensive distribution channels or market positioning of a corporation like Sony. Among the key players driving blockchain adoption, Sony is uniquely well-positioned to achieve this ambitious goal.
Soneium falls within the corporate blockchain sector, similar to Telegram’s TON and Line’s Kaia. We previously covered the TON ecosystem, and highlighted the unique advantages that corporate blockchains offer, primarily stemming from 10-100x cost-savings achieved through leveraging their existing, wide reaching distribution channels to onboard developers and users through open-source innovation. In the case of Line and Telegram, their distribution channels encompass the 1B+ monthly active users accross their applications. For Sony, it’s 900m+ devices in the hands and homes of users accross the film, music, gaming, and entertainment sectors of Sony Group.
Sony’s blockchain activities have ramped up in recent months. In March 2024, Sony filed a patent for a Super-Fungible gaming token, designed to allow tokens to be transferred between players. By July 2024, they announced plans to launch their own crypto exchange in Japan and rolled out their Connect app, enabling users to collect and trade NFTs. Just a month later, in August, they officially introduced Soneium, marking another milestone in Sony’s blockchain journey.
At Decasonic, we are excited to witness Sony Group’s continued expansion into blockchain. The opportunities within the Soneium ecosystem are vast, fueled by Startale’s blockchain expertise and Sony’s global consumer reach. In this article, we share a market map of the rapidly growing Soneium ecosystem to attract visionary founders and like-minded investors interested in building within this space.
Today, as I finalize this blog post, on October 14th, is the day the winners of the Soneium Spark Program are announced. To the winners: we congratulate you on behalf of Decasonic, and to the rest of the ambitious startups who participated in the program, we wish you continued success and the opportunity to keep on building. Soneium is a permissionless, open-source blockchain built on Optimism's ($OP) Superchain, aiming to bridge blockchain innovation with consumer applications and devices across Sony’s entertainment, gaming, audio, and finance sectors.
Sony’s primary differentiator compared to other blockchains is its deep, longstanding relationships with consumers across a multitude of entertainment experiences. We believe the true potential of Soneium lies at the intersection of blockchain and devices, leveraging Sony’s massive distribution channels and Startale’s blockchain expertise to drive mainstream adoption. This vision is encapsulated in Soneium’s motto, “Go Mainstream with Soneium,” symbolized by the #GMWithSoneium hashtag—a clear commitment to making blockchain a part of everyday life.
One of the goals of Soneium according to Jun Watanabe, the chairman of Sony Block Solutions Labs is to: “create diverse businesses and new use cases with the aim of reaching as many users as possible with the customer value that can be enjoyed only with Web3 technology and making their lives richer and more colorful.” Sony’s extensive expertise across entertainment sectors uniquely positions it to deliver on these promises and create transformative experiences.
As a testament of the excitement surrounding Soneium - on October 14th, 2024, Soneium announced their Minato testnet has been used to deploy over 250,000 contracts with 1M+ accounts created during the first month of the Minato testnet. This combined with the 1700+ applications for the Soneium Spark Program add to the mainstream interest in developing and using Soneium.
While Soneium does not have a native token, Startale’s Astar ($ASTR) will play a key role as a utility token within the Soneium network. $ASTR will be central to various use cases, including DeFi, consumer applications, and network security. It will act as a proxy token for the network, with existing Astar projects set to migrate to Soneium as the mainnet launch approaches.
Soneium’s ecosystem is at its infancy - with Soneium being announced on August 23rd of this year. At Decasonic, we are increasingly excited about the opportunities for Soneium to introduce novel use cases in SocialFi, Gaming, AI, Devices, DePIN, IPs, Transmedia, and Entertainment. Our current market mapping of the Soneium ecosystem identifies 180 projects already committed to building and supporting the network. Notably, 102 of these projects (54% of the total) are focused on DeFi and Infrastructure, which is typical for emerging blockchains as developer tools and TVL (Total Value Locked) often attract early builders and users.
Market Map Structure:
X-Axis: Represents the spectrum of products, ranging from foundational infrastructure to diverse applications.
Y-Axis: Differentiates the target audience, mapping web3-native use cases against those designed for broader, mainstream adoption.
Categories
Gaming: Web3 games spanning various genres and use cases, including Play-to-Earn and Tap-to-Earn models.
GameFi: Web3 games that combine real-world value with blockchain technology, integrating Play-to-Earn models with DeFi and tokenization elements.
Consumer:
NFT Marketplaces: Platforms offering NFTs for sale or trade.
NFT Launchpads and Infrastructure: Apps that provide tools for launching NFTs, often with no-code functionality.
NFTs: Community-centric NFT collections.
Community Tokens: Meme tokens or tokens centered around specific communities.
Token Launchpads: Platforms enabling creators and communities to launch their own tokens.
SocialFi: Social Finance applications that integrate blockchain with community features, emphasizing decentralization, user ownership, and token or NFT integration, differentiating them from traditional social platforms.
Entertainment: Encompassing NFTs, collectibles, film, content, and more, all leveraging blockchain technology for greater transparency and ownership.
RWA: The tokenization of real-world assets on-chain.
AI: The development of consumer AI applications and AI-device integrations.
Identity: Providing users with ownership and monetization capabilities for their digital identity, enabling interoperability across blockchains, devices, and platforms.
Audio: Empowering artists with ownership of their creations, while expanding distribution channels and monetization opportunities.
TransMedia: Creating immersive and interactive narratives, enhanced by blockchain's decentralized and transparent ownership capabilities.
DePIN: The decentralized ownership and use of physical infrastructure, with token incentives to drive engagement and community participation.
IPs: Blockchain enables transparent proof of ownership and facilitates royalty management through smart contracts, with projects like Spaceport already using these features for seamless IP rights management.
DeFi:
Perps: Derivatives for leverage-based asset speculation.
DEX: P2P marketplaces for swaps, often employing AMMs and CLOBs.
Staking: Locking up crypto assets to earn APY rewards, contributing to the network's total value locked (TVL) and security.
Bridge: Protocols that enable interoperability by facilitating asset transfers between blockchains.
Lending: Peer-to-peer lending within the crypto ecosystem.
Infrastructure:
Gaming: Resources for developers to build and deploy Web3 games.
Development: Platforms and tools for creating and deploying decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts.
Analytics: Offering data insights and analytics for developers and communities.
Data: Bringing off-chain data onto the blockchain.
Communication: Decentralized communication systems that prioritize privacy.
Wallet: Enabling users access to interact with dApps and asset management.
Security Auditors: Security services to identify smart contract vulnerabilities.
Payments: Reducing intermediaries and offering faster settlement times.
Blockchain: The foundational layer supporting decentralized protocols and applications.
Cloud: Providing data storage and enterprise blockchain adoption solutions.
Nodes: Ensuring blockchain security by validating transactions and blocks.
Devices: Enabling blockchain integration with physical devices for interoperability.
As the Soneium ecosystem expands, we believe its ability to harness Sony Group’s extensive distribution channels will redefine categories and create unique experiences at the convergence of blockchain, entertainment, gaming, AI, and finance.
Gaming: Leveraging Sony’s Playstation devices to create unique and enjoyable Web3 gaming experiences, as seen with the recent rise of Off the Grid (OTG). OTG is a free-to-play battle royale game, which rose to the top of the Epic games online store this week. We believe Sony’s existing and growing gaming distribution channels will create multiple web3 category-defining games, similar to the success recently seen with OTG.
AI (Consumer AI & AI-Devices): Soneium’s partnership with Sony creates a unique opportunity to define a new market category in Consumer AI and AI Devices, positioning them for substantial market share.
SocialFi: Sony’s vast distribution network gives SocialFi applications a distinct advantage, enabling the next generation of blockchain-based social platforms. These platforms can leverage Sony's channels to onboard billions of users while creating new community and fan interactions.
This evolution fuels additional monetization and revenue streams for creators.
Media and Entertainment: Similar to other corporate blockchains, Soneium opens broader content distribution avenues for creators, amplifying their reach.
IP Rights Management: Sony's strong presence in entertainment, gaming, film, and music positions Soneium to redefine IP rights management, offering enhanced protection across Sony’s devices and distribution channels.
NFTs: With Soneium, NFTs stand to gain from the cross-device interoperability and integration that Sony provides. This opens up new, expansive experiences for NFT owners, enhancing utility across Sony’s diverse operations.
DePIN: By leveraging Sony devices, Soneium enables users to contribute the computing power of their PlayStations and home systems toward AI model training, pushing forward decentralized infrastructure initiatives.
Identity: Sony’s broad device ecosystem allows users to maintain and transport their digital identities across multiple devices, enhancing identity ownership.
Infrastructure
Payments: Sony is poised to drive stablecoin adoption by integrating stablecoin payments into the PlayStation marketplace ecosystem and across Sony’s device portfolio. This aligns with their planned 2025 launch of a Yen-backed stablecoin, offering consumers seamless digital payment options.
If you are a founder building on Soneium, reach out to Decasonic - we would love to be a partner in your journey, pushing you to pursue greatness and transform your vision into reality.
The content of this material is strictly for informational and educational purposes and is not meant to constitute investment advice or a recommendation or a solicitation to buy or sell any asset or to make any financial decision. Nothing in these blog posts should be considered legal or tax advice. You should consult with your own professional advisor before making any financial decision. Decasonic offers no warranties on any content in the material posted in these blog posts, including that it is accurate, complete, or correct. The opinions expressed in these posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Decasonic. Decasonic is not liable for any errors or omissions in the content of this newsletter or for any actions taken based on the information provided herein.
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