Soneium collaborates with Astar, using entertainment and finance as entry points to accelerate the popularization of Web3.
Soneium is a Layer2 network supported by Sony Japan, primarily developed and operated by Startale (the Astar development team), led by Astar's founder Sota Watanabe. Soneium and Astar are deeply bound in resources and strategy, with ASTR as the core asset of the Astar ecosystem, also expected to become Soneium's representative asset, playing a key role in its application scenarios, with potential for token swaps with Soneium.
Recently, Evie, founder of JE Labs, had a dialogue with Sota, deeply exploring the two important projects under his leadership—public chain Astar and the Layer2 network Soneium co-built with Sony. In the interview, Sota shared the strategic logic of Astar's transformation to Soneium's strategic collaboration and revealed new attempts at the integration of Web3 and Web2.
From Prominent Public Chain to Web3 Popularization Platform: Astar's Three-Phase Evolution
During the interview, Sota shared the complete path of Astar's evolution from a public chain to a Web3 popularization platform. He stated, 'We proposed the Astar Evolution three-phase plan, with the goal of building a world where billions of people use Web3 technology, rather than just serving the geek community.' By jointly establishing the Sony Block Solution Lab with Sony Group, Startale developed the Layer2 public chain Soneium, as a collaborative ecosystem with Astar, jointly promoting the large-scale adoption of Web3.
Driven by Long-termism: Astar and Soneium Co-constructing a Positive-sum Ecosystem
Sota, in his dual role as the founder of Astar and a director at Soneium, is promoting deep synergy between the two ecosystems, constructing a positive-sum network centered around 'long-termism'.
Currently, Soneium has not issued its own token and uses ASTR as the collective asset of the ecosystem. Through an on-chain contribution mechanism called ACS (Astar Contribution Score), developers and users can earn ASTR and OP (Optimism token) rewards by contributing to the Soneium ecosystem. Astar has thus become a representative asset on Soneium.
'We are not striving for short-term returns; we are preparing for 2030, even 2040,' Sota said. As a serial entrepreneur, Sota firmly believes that technology should empower more individuals, allowing Web3 to truly enter the public eye. 'What we want to do is a long-term game of over ten years, ultimately becoming one of the top three to five main chains globally,' Sota emphasized. After the launch of the ACS initiative, TVL has doubled. Currently, Soneium's mainnet has only been online for two months and has jumped to the top 14 globally, aiming for the top 3.
Entertainment Strategy: The Key Breakthrough Point for Web3 Popularization
Sota emphasizes that entertainment and social interaction are powerful tools driving the popularization of Web3, sharing the star project Yoake built on Soneium—a decentralized entertainment platform where fans can decide idol performance content through on-chain voting, attracting over ten thousand offline participants and twenty thousand users voting. Most importantly, users do not need to understand blockchain to participate smoothly in voting and interaction.
'The biggest advantage of on-chain voting is its immutability; even we cannot change the results,' Sota emphasized.
Building a Long-term Moat: From Financial Fundamentals to Star Applications
Soneium's strategic path is divided into two layers: firstly, building a stable financial infrastructure (such as DeFi integration), and then taking on large-scale entertainment, social, and other Web2-level applications. 'Before building the entertainment layer, I prefer to stabilize the financial layer first. On this foundation, we will then construct application scenarios,' Sota revealed that they are collaborating with DeFi blue-chip projects like Uniswap. He also emphasized, 'Fundamentally, our success can be measured by how many Web2 users we attract. We don’t want to play a zero-sum game; we prefer to create a positive-sum pattern.'
For Soneium, true victory is not merely about migrating Web3 native users but whether it can attract Web2 users who have never been exposed to Web3 through killer applications in the next year or two—this is the core mission of building the 'next-generation mainstream blockchain'. Entertainment + Web3 is key to attracting Web2 users and can truly break the cycle of 'airdrop to attract, leave during bull market' for Web3 users.
Global in Scope but Rooted Locally: Advantages and Opportunities in the Japanese Market
Although the Startale team comes from over 20 countries and has more than 80 employees, Sota also places high importance on the local Japanese market. He mentioned that Japan's regulatory environment is being optimized, and the favorable policies on stablecoins and taxation are driving more capital and users into the market. Startale is also cooperating with successful case Startbahn to further expand its influence in Japan.
Sota is very confident about the Japanese market. He pointed out, 'If the tax rate drops from 55% to 20%, Japanese investors will flood into the market.'
Next Phase: Redefining the Connection between Blockchain and the Public
Sota stated that the current competition among Web3 projects is fierce but lacking practical applications. Soneium will prioritize 'user first' as its core philosophy, connecting Web2 and Web3, from finance to entertainment, to build a sustainable ecological closed loop.
Faced with market cycles and industry competition, Sota clearly pointed out Soneium's differentiated path—building a Web3 world where non-technical users can naturally participate through extreme usability + strong distribution channels + mass-market killer products.
About
Astar Official Twitter: https://x.com/AstarNetwork
Astar Official Website: https://t.co/UB8q2Fdl7x
Soneium Official Twitter: https://x.com/soneium
Soneium Official Website: https://soneium.org/
Startale Official Twitter: https://x.com/StartaleGroup
Startale Official Website: https://startale.com/en