Sony is putting more capital behind its blockchain strategy, as its venture arm expands support for Startale Group, the company helping build the Soneium Ethereum layer-2 network. Startale said on Jan. 29 that it received an additional $13 million from Sony Innovation Fund at the first close of its Series A round.
The investment deepens a partnership that began in 2023 and later expanded through Sony Block Solutions Labs, a joint venture between Sony Group and Startale. That joint venture is behind Soneium, an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain positioned around entertainment, intellectual property and consumer applications.
Soneium’s mainnet went live in January 2025, roughly a year before Sony’s latest Startale investment. Sony described the network as part of a broader Web3 push to support creators, fans and blockchain-based consumer experiences
Soneium is built using Optimism’s OP Stack and Superchain tooling. That places Sony’s blockchain project within a wider Ethereum scaling ecosystem rather than as a fully isolated corporate chain.
Startale said Soneium has processed more than 500 million transactions since mainnet launch. It also reported 5.4 million active wallets and more than 250 live decentralized applications, though long-term user retention and transaction quality remain the metrics to watch.
The new funding will support what Startale calls onchain entertainment infrastructure. That includes creator and IP-led applications, consumer distribution, and a payment and settlement layer for activity across the Soneium ecosystem.
Startale CEO Sota Watanabe framed Sony’s backing as a continuation of the companies’ shared roadmap. “Sony’s continued support strengthens our ability to deliver the infrastructure required,” Watanabe said.
Kazuhito Hadano, CEO of Sony Ventures Corporation, said Startale works “from infrastructure to applications,” adding that Sony would continue supporting the company’s ambitions around Soneium
The investment was not Startale’s final funding update this year. In March, Startale closed a $63 million Series A after securing an additional $50 million from SBI Group, bringing together Sony’s entertainment-focused blockchain push and SBI’s onchain finance strategy.
The SBI-backed second close broadened Startale’s roadmap beyond consumer entertainment. Startale said the capital would also support Strium, a blockchain project for tokenized securities and real-world asset trading, as well as stablecoin initiatives including USDSC and JPYSC.
Startale and SBI unveiled Strium in February as a Layer-1 blockchain designed for tokenized securities and RWA-linked instruments. The project is aimed at 24/7 spot and derivatives trading markets for onchain capital markets.
Startale and SBI also introduced JPYSC, a trust bank-backed Japanese yen stablecoin, in February. Startale said the token is designed for enterprise settlement, cross-border use cases and integration across traditional financial and blockchain systems.
The obvious near-term use case for Sony remains consumer distribution.
Startale App opened to all users in April after an invite-only beta. Startale said the app had onboarded more than 300,000 users during beta testing and now serves as a gateway to Soneium, including wallet functions, asset management, STAR Points and Mini Apps.
That’s important because user experience has been one of Web3’s biggest barriers. Earlier NFT and gaming rollouts often required users to manage seed phrases, wallets, marketplaces and gas fees across separate platforms.
Startale App is designed to reduce that friction. The company has positioned it as a super app that uses account abstraction, wallet simplification and Mini Apps to make Soneium access feel closer to mainstream consumer software..
Startale USD, or USDSC, is another piece of the same stack. The dollar stablecoin works as a unified settlement layer connecting applications, users and payments across Soneium.
For Sony, the strategic value is not just launching another blockchain.
If Soneium can combine wallets, stablecoin payments, fan rewards, digital collectibles and creator monetization into simple consumer flows, it could give Sony a blockchain rail for entertainment products without forcing users to behave like crypto-native traders.
The push also reflects a broader trend among major platforms. Coinbase built Base on the OP Stack and positioned it as an Ethereum layer-2 incubated by Coinbase, while Kraken introduced Ink as an OP Stack layer-2 focused on DeFi access.
World Chain followed a similar app-chain strategy, using OP Stack infrastructure for identity and user onboarding around the World project. These examples show how large crypto and consumer platforms are increasingly choosing Ethereum-linked layer-2 networks instead of standalone blockchains.
The results have been mixed but important.
Base has become one of the most visible examples of a branded Ethereum layer-2 tied to a large consumer-facing company. Ink is still building around Kraken’s DeFi strategy, while World Chain is focused on verified-human activity and financial access.
Soneium’s challenge is different because Sony’s strongest assets sit in entertainment, gaming, music and IP.
That creates a bigger opportunity for fan engagement and creator monetization, but also a sharper governance problem. At launch, Soneium faced criticism after some contracts were restricted over alleged IP violations, highlighting the tension between open blockchain access and corporate rights management.
Soneium later said the restrictions were related to unauthorized IP use and were applied at the RPC level. The network argued that protecting creator rights was necessary to attract mainstream creators and users.
That debate is central to Sony’s blockchain strategy.
A fully open network may attract crypto-native experimentation, but an entertainment company also needs to protect brands, characters and licensed content. Soneium will have to balance both if it wants to serve creators without alienating developers.
Startale’s expansion after the Sony investment also shows that the company is not limiting itself to Japan. In April, Startale said it would establish operations in Abu Dhabi after being selected for Hub71’s Digital Assets cohort, placing its blockchain and stablecoin work closer to institutional capital and regulators in the UAE.
The move follows Startale’s $63 million Series A and supports its work across Soneium, Strium, Startale App, USDSC and JPYSC. It also reflects a broader push by blockchain infrastructure companies to scale inside jurisdictions with clearer digital asset frameworks.
Sony’s latest investment does not guarantee that Soneium will become mainstream entertainment infrastructure.
But it shows the company is still allocating capital and strategic attention to blockchain more than a year after mainnet launch. The next test is whether Soneium can turn transactions, wallets and Mini Apps into durable consumer use cases across Sony’s entertainment ecosystem.
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