Optimism is a competitive advantage. Refining products in a bear market and reaping rewards in a bull market—Sota
Soneium partners with Astar to accelerate the popularization of Web3 through entertainment and finance
Soneium is a Layer2 network developed and operated by Startale (the Astar development team) with support from Sony Japan, led by Astar's founder Sota Watanabe. Soneium is deeply integrated with Astar in terms of resources and strategy, with ASTR, the core asset of the Astar ecosystem, expected to become a representative asset of Soneium, playing a key role in its application scenarios, and there is potential for token swaps with Soneium.
Recently, Evie, the founder of JE Labs, had a conversation with Sota, delving into two important projects under his leadership— the public chain Astar and the Layer2 network Soneium co-built with Sony. In the interview, Sota shared the strategic logic behind Astar's transition to a collaborative partnership with Soneium and revealed new attempts to combine Web3 with Web2.
From a Highlighted Public Chain to a Web3 Popularization Platform: Astar's Three-Phase Evolution
Sota shared the complete path of Astar's evolution from a public chain to a Web3 popularization platform during the interview. He stated, "We proposed the Astar Evolution three-phase plan, aiming to build 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 to promote the large-scale adoption of Web3.
Long-Termism Driven: Astar and Soneium Build a Cooperative Ecosystem
In his dual role as the founder of Astar and a director of Soneium, Sota promotes deep collaboration between the two ecosystems, building a cooperative network around "long-termism."
Currently, Soneium has not issued independent tokens 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. As a result, Astar has 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 lasting 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 achieved double growth. Currently, Soneium's mainnet has been online for only two months and has already risen to the top 14 globally, with the goal of reaching the top 3.
Entertainment Strategy: The Key Breakthrough Point for Web3 Popularization
Sota emphasized that entertainment and social interaction are powerful tools driving the popularization of Web3 and shared the star project Yoake built on Soneium—a decentralized entertainment platform where fans can vote on the content of idol performances, attracting over ten thousand offline participants and twenty thousand user votes. 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 Foundations to Star Applications
Soneium's strategic path is divided into two layers: first, building a stable financial infrastructure (such as DeFi integration), and then accommodating large-scale entertainment, social, and other Web2-level applications. "Before building the entertainment layer, I prefer to solidify the financial layer first. On this foundation, we can then build application scenarios," Sota revealed, noting 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 do not want to play a zero-sum game; we hope to create a positive-sum pattern."
For Soneium, true victory is not merely the migration of Web3 native users but whether it can attract Web2 users who have never encountered 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 the key to attracting Web2 users, truly breaking the cycle of "airdrop to pull users, bull market to leave" among Web3 users.
Global Focus with Local Roots: Advantages and Opportunities in the Japanese Market
Although the Startale team comes from over 20 countries and has more than 80 employees, Sota places great importance on the local Japanese market. He mentioned that Japan's regulatory environment is improving, and favorable policies regarding stablecoins and taxes are driving more funds and users into the market. Startale is also collaborating with successful case Startbahn to further expand its influence in Japan.
Sota is 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 Web3 project competition is fierce but lacks practical applications. Soneium will adopt a "user-first" core philosophy, connecting Web2 and Web3, from finance to entertainment, to build a sustainable ecological closed loop.
In the face of market cycles and industry competition, Sota clearly pointed out Soneium's differentiated path—building a Web3 world that non-technical users can naturally participate in through extreme usability + strong distribution channels + killer products aimed at the public.
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
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
