When you receive a “GM” from Sota Watanabe, it’s not a simple “good morning.”
Watanabe, CEO of Startale Labs and founder of Astar Network, prefers it to signify “go mainstream” instead.
This is the mission statement — and ambition — of Sony Block Solutions Labs as they launch Soneium, a collaborative project with Watanabe’s company.
The network’s “Minato” public testnet is scheduled to launch after the WebX 2024 conference on Wednesday in Japan.
In positioning Soneium as a fundamental component in the drive for mainstream adoption of Web3, Watanabe reiterated the common belief that this generation of blockchain technology will bring the next billion users into the world of crypto.
“What the industry lacks is a distribution channel,” Watanabe shared with Blockworks. “Our goal is to create a blockchain based on real user feedback, making it accessible not only to tech-savvy individuals but also to the general population who will be using blockchain in the next decade.”
Soneium will mark Startale’s third blockchain deployment, following the original Astar Network layer-1, a Polkadot parachain, and the Ethereum layer-2 Astar zkEVM (built on the Polygon CDK).
With the introduction of Soneium, Astar will evolve once more to incorporate the new optimistic rollup based on the OP Stack.
This decision was influenced by Sony’s engineers who found the OP Stack to be a more “proven” solution, especially in light of the blockchain reorganizations encountered by Astar. Polygon’s zkEVM has faced similar issues.
OP Mainnet has also experienced occasional stability issues. For the majority of its existence, it notably lacked permissionless fault proofs, recently reverting its latest attempt. The network is expected to reintroduce this feature in approximately two weeks, according to L2Beat.
Until a functioning fault-proof system is adopted by other OP Stack chains, claims of inheriting Ethereum’s security remain unsubstantiated.
For now, Watanabe remains unfazed.
“Customers are not concerned about the tech stack used; they simply want a reliable and robust network,” Watanabe emphasized. “To onboard Sony onchain to a Web3 ecosystem, the tech stack needed to be production-ready.”
While Astar zkEVM could only handle three to four transactions per second (TPS), the OP Stack version is anticipated to offer higher throughput.
However, a source familiar with the arrangement informed Blockworks that the technical evaluation played a minor role. “The truth is, Astar’s decision was primarily driven by their partnership with Sony, who is being compensated by Optimism for this collaboration,” the source disclosed.
Blockworks reached out to Optimism representatives for further clarification.
The backers of Soneium also intend for the network to join the Superchain — a move that would align them with Base, the OP Stack rollup leading the Ethereum layer-2 sector in active users in recent times.
Watanabe downplayed the notion of competition between rollups.
“Many have inquired about the competition between Soneium and Base due to the similarity in concept, though not identical,” Watanabe remarked. “Rather than competing with Base, we aim to collaborate and expand the ecosystem together through the Superchain.”
The launch of the testnet also marks the commencement of an incubation program named Spark, designed to provide developers with a conducive environment for building and testing their applications, along with mentorship, technical assistance, and funding opportunities — including investments of up to $100,000 for eligible projects.
According to Watanabe, Sony is committed for the long haul, allocating resources from its team of 30-50 software engineers and infrastructure, in addition to the seed funding for the joint venture from the entertainment and electronics giant.
This project stems from about a year and a half of discussions, initiated well before the launch of Astar zkEVM.
“We wish to express our admiration for open-source technology. We have engaged in discussions with Optimism executives, and I hold them in high regard for their efforts to transform society — Sony is eager to collaborate with them,” Watanabe expressed.