Japan’s Soneium Bets Big: Sony, SBI, and Startale’s Bid to Build a Global Layer-2 Powerhouse
As competitors amongst Ethereum Layer-2 chains intensifies, Startale Group is positioning Soneium as a compliance-first platform rooted in Japan. With companions resembling SBI and Sony, the corporate goals to mix monetary infrastructure with entertainment-driven adoption.
CEO Sota Watanabe spoke to BeInCrypto in regards to the long-term imaginative and prescient, development metrics, decentralization, and regulation. The mission seeks to stand out globally.
Background: Can a Japan-Born L2 Compete?
L2BEAT listed Soneium with methodology notes and governance dangers. OKLink confirmed heavy on-chain throughput. Blockscout information ERC-4337 account-abstraction operations, offering a clear log of user-level interactions. Together, these indicators present that Soneium is already working at actual scale below exterior scrutiny. They display that a Japan-born Layer-2 can meet transparency benchmarks set by world leaders.
Sony arrange a JV and incubator in 2023. It announced Soneium improvement in 2024 and launched mainnet in 2025. Meanwhile, SBI Holdings revealed joint-venture plans to join Soneium with capital markets. Together, these alliances sign how leisure and finance are converging in Japan’s blockchain panorama.
Mission and Global Vision: Can Japan Lead?
Startale’s medium- and long-term objectives concentrate on constructing a world place past 2025. The firm goals to show how a Japan-born blockchain can compete on the highest stage. With Soneium, the SBI three way partnership, and different initiatives, Startale is extending its presence throughout each know-how and finance.
However, as tasks multiply, the imaginative and prescient is just not at all times clear. Watanabe mentioned the agency was based to show Japan might ship enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure. Therefore, compliance and reliability, not hypothesis, stay the highest priorities.
“We consider that the following iteration of the web shall be constructed on blockchains. I need to see Japan take a lead on that. That’s the explanation we based Startale. We aimed to present Japan can develop world-class blockchain infrastructure. This isn’t only for crypto fanatics. It’s for enterprises. It’s for corporations like Sony, SBI, and different world conglomerates that demand reliability, compliance, and safety.”
He added that the long-term imaginative and prescient is for Japan to stand as a world chief in blockchain. Just because the nation exported manufacturing and tradition, Startale goals to export blockchain infrastructure. To obtain this, the agency is constructing a crew that blends engineering experience with enterprise improvement and partnerships.
Investment Story: Resilience Amid Headwinds?
The broader Layer-2 market is seeing slowing capital inflows. Existing tokens additionally battle to maintain investor attraction. How Soneium is perceived subsequently issues. Watanabe famous that scale and composability are actually baseline options. Consequently, Startale goals to stand out via distribution channels and new consumer segments.
“The trade has been maturing. Competition has shifted past present crypto customers to totally new consumer segments who’ve by no means engaged with crypto earlier than. The variety of corporations shifting on-chain in 2025 makes this clear. Startale and Astar have labored on this since 2023. We are good at securing distribution channels, and that turns into a moat.”
He cited exercise knowledge: as of September 2025, Soneium had processed over 295 million transactions (OKLink confirmed 297.16 million). It averaged roughly 90,000 day by day energetic addresses and greater than 4.8 million addresses in complete. It additionally recorded over 350,000 account-abstraction operations. These figures, subsequently, display scale.
However, L2BEAT’s Total Value Secured rankings present Arbitrum and Base securing tens of billions in property, underscoring the hole. Moreover, educational analysis resembling Optimistic MEV in Ethereum Layer 2s highlights how MEV extraction and spam masses differ throughout Arbitrum, Base, and Optimism. This frames Soneium’s development not solely in uncooked numbers but additionally within the high quality of utilization.
At the identical time, Flashbots analyzed spam masses throughout OP-Stack rollups, reminding observers to weigh high quality alongside throughput. Asked which metrics matter most—TVL, consumer base, or utility development—he as a substitute pointed to distribution channels. In his view, securing new pipelines for adoption is a extra sturdy moat than chasing uncooked numbers.
Token Design: Sustainability or Sticking Point?
Soneium at the moment makes use of ETH as fuel. But questions stay about native tokens and sustainable income. Watanabe acknowledged that a native token might arrive later, a difficulty tied to U.S. SEC scrutiny of Layer-2 “independence.”
For now, he harassed that sustainable income should come from sequencer charges, joint ventures, and compliance-driven companies. Token incentives, in contrast, are short-lived. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued KPI-disclosure steerage that requires readability on development and worth creation. Therefore, Watanabe emphasised reinvesting sequencer revenues, joint-venture revenue, and account-abstraction exercise again into the ecosystem as a substitute of counting on fast token incentives.
“The Layer-2 ecosystem has matured shortly. Differentiators like scale, composability, and protocol-level innovation are actually baseline necessities. Simply launching with a bridge or a DEX isn’t sufficient. Our strategy is to safe distribution, increase into new consumer bases, and reinvest sequencer and JV revenues into the ecosystem to help long-term development.”
Sony’s Edge: Catalyst for Native Demand?
Soneium’s TVL nonetheless leans on bridged property. DeFiLlama exhibits this reliance clearly, in distinction to the extra diversified liquidity profiles of Arbitrum and Optimism.
Nevertheless, Sony’s IP gives a shopper channel few chains can match. Watanabe outlined plans to tokenize music, movie, and gaming content material. He additionally highlighted wallets, compliance instruments, and account abstraction to make experiences seamless.
“Startale is engaged on leisure and media use circumstances on prime of Soneium. We supply alternatives to tokenize music, movie, and gaming with ecosystem builders. We additionally present wallets, account abstraction, and compliance instruments that allow these fan experiences and monetization fashions. This drives native demand as a result of customers have interaction with content material they love, not hypothesis.”
Between Centralization and Decentralization
Soneium nonetheless runs a centralized sequencer and a centralized fraud-proof authority. L2BEAT already flags these as governance dangers. Arbitrum’s DAO, as an illustration, enforces timelocks on upgrades. Meanwhile, Base stays tied to Coinbase via its sequencer. In this context, Soneium’s phased strategy seems to be like a deliberate steadiness between usability and compliance.
“Pure decentralization with out usability gained’t obtain mass adoption. Complete centralization defeats the aim of Web3. We started with a centralized sequencer for stability and scale. From there, we’re upgrading the community step-by-step towards extra open and finally decentralized fashions.”
He cited the Yoake live performance app, the place followers voted on-chain with out realizing it. This instance exhibits how invisible UX can merge compliance with Web3 capabilities.
Enterprise Strategy in Asia: Trust as a Pillar?
In Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, enterprises prioritize auditability and predictable prices. For a Sony-aligned L2, belief is central. Watanabe described three pillars: regulatory-first infrastructure, cross-border scalability, and developer-friendly integration. Startale calls this framework Entertainment Tokenized Assets (ETA). It packages programmable rights and royalties round cultural IP. Thus, enterprises can undertake blockchain with out sacrificing compliance or consumer belief.
“Our technique focuses on enabling enterprise adoption, and Soneium is a key a part of that. Enterprises care most about three pillars: regulation with sturdy safety, scalability throughout Asia and past, and seamless infrastructure resembling wallets and account abstraction.”
Connecting Japan’s Strengths to Capital Markets
Startale and SBI shaped a three way partnership to launch tokenized inventory and RWA markets. SBI Holdings revealed a detailed launch on the initiative. Watanabe argued that Japan’s mixture of regulatory readability, trusted establishments, and cultural IP gives a bonus in shaping tokenization at scale.
“Japan has a distinctive mixture of strengths that may form the way forward for tokenization. Our regulatory readability, trusted monetary establishments, and globally influential cultural IP put us in a place few different markets can match. Our broader imaginative and prescient is to make Japan a mannequin for a way tokenized markets can work at scale.”
Managing Settlement Lags and Price Gaps
Tokenized property in different contexts revealed foundation threat from gaps between on-chain execution and off-chain settlement. Watanabe mentioned Startale will apply safeguards modeled on conventional markets, together with circuit-breaker-style pauses and clear consumer disclosures calibrated with regulators.
“Settlement lags and pricing gaps are actual challenges in tokenized markets, and our precept is easy: Startale builds infrastructure that applies regulated-market requirements. Automated safeguards can pause buying and selling when discrepancies exceed thresholds, calibrated with regulators and modeled on present requirements for circuit breakers.”
Japan’s Financial Services Agency finalized guidelines below the Payment Services Act and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA). In addition, Reuters reported that additional amendments might increase the scope of monetary devices.
Stablecoin Interoperability and UX
By 2025, a number of regulated stablecoins are anticipated to coexist—from bank-backed devices to USDC and GHO—elevating UX challenges. Watanabe mentioned infrastructure ought to take in complexity, not customers. With account abstraction, customers can depend on acquainted log-ins, restoration flows, and gasless transactions. Chambers & Partners outlined how Japan’s stablecoin regime aligns with this compliance-first design.
“We anticipate a number of bank-backed and regulated stablecoins to coexist, and we design for interoperability throughout them. Our philosophy is easy: Web3 ought to really feel as intuitive as Web2. Behind the scenes, our account abstraction framework removes friction—customers can log in with acquainted credentials, get well accounts simply, and transact with out worrying about fuel.”
Tokenization and the Role of ETFs
Japan’s blockchain market might increase materially this decade. This raises questions on whether or not tokenization will cut back reliance on ETFs and proxy shares. Watanabe argued that direct, fractional, programmable publicity with real-time settlement can streamline company actions and change how liquidity is packaged.
“Tokenization essentially redefines the position of ETFs and proxy shares by eradicating the necessity for layered monetary wrappers. A token can instantly symbolize the underlying asset with real-time settlement, clear possession, and world attain. Smart contracts allow automated market making and peer-to-peer buying and selling throughout time zones, whereas treasuries can automate dividends and governance rights, reducing prices and operational threat.”
Regulatory and Policy Strategy
Global frameworks are evolving. The European Commission revealed Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) texts. Japan’s Financial Services Agency finalized home guardrails. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission additionally issued KPI-disclosure steerage. Watanabe framed Startale’s infrastructure as compliant by design. Consequently, he argued that Japan can function a mannequin for balancing innovation with belief.
“We have been early supporters of Japan’s Payment Services Act and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act as a result of they supply a clear framework that balances innovation with belief. Our job is to guarantee our infrastructure meets not solely Japan’s requirements but additionally MiCA, SEC steerage, and different world guidelines. Ultimately, our aim is for Japan to display that Web3 could be each progressive and compliant—setting the usual for world adoption.”
Watanabe’s remarks painting Soneium as a Layer-2 designed for enterprises below Japan’s regulatory readability and supported by institutional partnerships. The technique emphasizes distribution channels, entertainment-driven demand, phased decentralization, and market safeguards. For traders and enterprises, the take a look at is whether or not headline development converts into sturdy adoption—and whether or not Japan’s framework can credibly function a template for world tokenization.
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