📊 Sony’s blockchain “orderbook” for K-pop money: split concert revenue and royalties into on-chain assets, with retail investors pushed aside first
On September 29, at Raoum Art Center in Seoul’s Gangnam district, an invitation-only event saw two companies announce their partnership. On one side is Sony’s Ethereum Layer 2 Soneium; on the other is the Korean entertainment company DayOneDream. The timing is set for the opening day of Korea Blockchain Week (KBW 2026, September 29 to October 1).
First, meet the players. Soneium is an entertainment chain co-developed by Sony Group and Startale. It went live on the mainnet in January 2025. By this past January it had processed 500 million transactions, 5.4 million active wallets, and over 250 applications, and Sony followed up with an additional investment of $13 million into Startale in January as well. DayOneDream is a Korean content company. It manages everything from BTOB, Lee Chae-ly (Lee Chaey), MEMI, and 2F—an entire chain they build themselves, spanning music production and distribution, video content, artist IP, live performances, and IP e-commerce.
The on-chain target this time is revenue streams. Artists aren’t in the picture. WAVIST, the K-pop IP tokenization platform built by DayOneDream’s Pledge, isolates a specific slice of cash flow from performances, content, streaming, and music copyrights—turning it into an on-chain product with publicly available issuance and settlement records. The producers don’t have to sell their copyrights, nor hand over their IP. They can take part of the future money in advance. The money comes first. The platform already has the CNCRT performance fund and the CNTNT content fund, but the ARTIST artist fund hasn’t launched yet.
Back in May of this year, WAVIST completed a full run of a deal: an on-chain tokenized bond for K-pop IP financing, with the entire workflow—issuance, distribution, maturity redemption, and destruction—executed on-chain. How big the bond was and whose IP was involved were not disclosed by either side.
Then comes the place where the fantasy gets pressed down. These products go out under Reg S, sold in the United States’ overseas markets and not open to U.S. persons. In the first phase, the WAVE token only grants governance rights—no right to profits and no dividends. When the first Soneium product will be released, whose IP will be the underlying asset, and how large the “pool” will be—officials haven’t said a single word. One more detail: WAVIST’s previous products were actually run on the Story chain; this time they’ve changed ports.
Now compare it off-chain. Entertainment IP has long been packaged and bought outright as an asset. In May, Sony Music Publishing signed Recognition Music Group, acquiring 45,000 songs from Blackstone, with Fleetwood Mac, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga all included; the deal closed in July. The “buyout” means ownership transfers hands. Soneium does the opposite: the copyright stays where it is, and only a portion of future cash flows gets carved out and sold.
It’s a tricky ledger to calculate. Total tokenized RWA cleared over $30 billion in the first half of the year (per the RWA.xyz definition). Bernstein calculated $51 billion using a broader definition. The biggest share is government treasuries and private credit. Revenue from a world tour or an album isn’t even in the same category as government bonds.
When I wrote this, BTC was four sources at $85,567 to $85,599, up about 2.2% over 24 hours. ETH was $2,719 to $2,721, up 0.8%. The market didn’t move.
K-pop money has always followed the old tracks: producers pledge away their copyrights and IP to obtain production fees. What Soneium wants to sell is something else. IP stays in their own hands; they only carve out a slice of future cash flows to raise financing. If they truly make it work, K-pop is just the beginning. Right now, they don’t even have their first product yet.
$BTC $ETH
#中本聪国际社区Baoluo币商资本 #RWA #Kpop
On September 29, at Raoum Art Center in Seoul’s Gangnam district, an invitation-only event saw two companies announce their partnership. On one side is Sony’s Ethereum Layer 2 Soneium; on the other is the Korean entertainment company DayOneDream. The timing is set for the opening day of Korea Blockchain Week (KBW 2026, September 29 to October 1).
First, meet the players. Soneium is an entertainment chain co-developed by Sony Group and Startale. It went live on the mainnet in January 2025. By this past January it had processed 500 million transactions, 5.4 million active wallets, and over 250 applications, and Sony followed up with an additional investment of $13 million into Startale in January as well. DayOneDream is a Korean content company. It manages everything from BTOB, Lee Chae-ly (Lee Chaey), MEMI, and 2F—an entire chain they build themselves, spanning music production and distribution, video content, artist IP, live performances, and IP e-commerce.
The on-chain target this time is revenue streams. Artists aren’t in the picture. WAVIST, the K-pop IP tokenization platform built by DayOneDream’s Pledge, isolates a specific slice of cash flow from performances, content, streaming, and music copyrights—turning it into an on-chain product with publicly available issuance and settlement records. The producers don’t have to sell their copyrights, nor hand over their IP. They can take part of the future money in advance. The money comes first. The platform already has the CNCRT performance fund and the CNTNT content fund, but the ARTIST artist fund hasn’t launched yet.
Back in May of this year, WAVIST completed a full run of a deal: an on-chain tokenized bond for K-pop IP financing, with the entire workflow—issuance, distribution, maturity redemption, and destruction—executed on-chain. How big the bond was and whose IP was involved were not disclosed by either side.
Then comes the place where the fantasy gets pressed down. These products go out under Reg S, sold in the United States’ overseas markets and not open to U.S. persons. In the first phase, the WAVE token only grants governance rights—no right to profits and no dividends. When the first Soneium product will be released, whose IP will be the underlying asset, and how large the “pool” will be—officials haven’t said a single word. One more detail: WAVIST’s previous products were actually run on the Story chain; this time they’ve changed ports.
Now compare it off-chain. Entertainment IP has long been packaged and bought outright as an asset. In May, Sony Music Publishing signed Recognition Music Group, acquiring 45,000 songs from Blackstone, with Fleetwood Mac, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga all included; the deal closed in July. The “buyout” means ownership transfers hands. Soneium does the opposite: the copyright stays where it is, and only a portion of future cash flows gets carved out and sold.
It’s a tricky ledger to calculate. Total tokenized RWA cleared over $30 billion in the first half of the year (per the RWA.xyz definition). Bernstein calculated $51 billion using a broader definition. The biggest share is government treasuries and private credit. Revenue from a world tour or an album isn’t even in the same category as government bonds.
When I wrote this, BTC was four sources at $85,567 to $85,599, up about 2.2% over 24 hours. ETH was $2,719 to $2,721, up 0.8%. The market didn’t move.
K-pop money has always followed the old tracks: producers pledge away their copyrights and IP to obtain production fees. What Soneium wants to sell is something else. IP stays in their own hands; they only carve out a slice of future cash flows to raise financing. If they truly make it work, K-pop is just the beginning. Right now, they don’t even have their first product yet.
$BTC $ETH
#中本聪国际社区Baoluo币商资本 #RWA #Kpop
