The post Sony’s Long-Awaited Ethereum Layer-2 Chain to Launch in Coming Weeks appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Sony Group has finally pulled back the curtain on Soneium, an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain developed in partnership with Web3 infrastructure provider Startale. Driven by a joint venture between Sony and Startale—known as Sony Block Solutions Labs—Soneium marks the company’s initial steps towards developing a fully realized blockchain. The network, planned for launch in the coming weeks, will initially operate on a testnet in collaboration with Astar Network, a blockchain platform known for its multi-chain capabilities. The collaboration will integrate Astar’s zkEVM assets and infrastructure with Soneium, providing initial liquidity and a range of fungible and non-fungible digital assets, the companies said in a statement on Friday. ZkEVM is a technology that enhances privacy and efficiency by using zero-knowledge proofs—a cryptographic method that allows transactions to be verified without revealing all transaction details. Soneium has been under development since at least September 2023, following initial hints from Sota Watanabe, founder of the Astar Network and CEO of Startale, who previously positioned it as a project capable of surpassing Coinbase’s Base network. “I deeply respect Base and their significant contribution to this industry, and I believe our user category won’t overlap,” Watanabe told Decrypt late Thursday. “We are targeting more general people. Web3 is still very early and too small a market to compete.” Specifically, the blockchain aims to address key challenges such as scalability, security, and decentralization while remaining “user-friendly,” per the statement. It also aims to deliver practical applications across the entertainment, gaming, and finance sectors. The network’s technical infrastructure is expected to be based on the Superchain ecosystem platform utilizing Optimism’s OP Stack technology. “We plan to join Superchain as well,” Watanabe confirmed to Decrypt. “We would like to collaborate with Base to push this industry forward through collaboration.”  The OP Stack is a type of modular software designed…

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Filed under: News - @ August 23, 2024 10:19 pm