Sony launches Soneium Minato testnet alongside a new incubator program

Sony Block Solution Labs has officially launched the Soneium Minato public testnet and an incubator program for developers building on its new layer-2 blockchain, Soneium.

According to an August 28 announcement, the Soneium Minato testnet offers a “fast and cost-effective development environment” to provide developers with a platform compatible with Ethereum.

Applications developed on Soneium Minato would be publicly available, allowing anyone to test the offerings.

The testnet launch will help create early communities around these applications by enabling users to interact with and provide feedback on the services.

As such, developers will get the time to refine their products and foster a collaborative environment before a potential mainnet launch.

Further, the tesnet will not use the production block, meaning developers and participants can test applications using only “test version of crypto assets,” which don’t hold any value.

Sony Block Solution Labs chairman Jun Watanabe called the testnet launch the project’s first step in creating a “fan community centered on creators that can connect diverse values through Soneium.”

Supporting early movers

The launch of the tesnet came alongside the announcement of an incubator program that offers up to $100,000 for developers willing to build on Soneium.

The program is looking for projects working with variety of Web3 sectors, including DeFi solutions like decentralised exchanges and lending platforms and other experiences such as NFTs and gaming, among others.

Projects building exclusive Soneium-native dApps, specifically those choosing Soneium as their first chain or planning to migrate from other blockchains would be given a higher preference, the announcement added.

Participating projects will receive support in several key areas, including marketing, business, technical, and financial assistance.

Financial support includes investments from the Ecosystem Fund for Gold winners and additional funding opportunities from Soneium’s network of partners aimed at helping projects scale within the Soneium ecosystem.

Several of Sony’s subsidiaries such as Sony Music, the Sony Innovation Fund, and its Inzone gaming headset division will be among those participating in the incubator program.

Sony’s own blockchain network

Sony announced the Soneium blockchain on August 23 as a layer-2 blockchain on Ethereum.

The project is being developed using OP Stack, a modular, open-source framework created by the Optimism Foundation.

Soneium will leverage the Optimistic roll-up technology, which involves batching multiple transactions and processing them off-chain.

Soneium was launched in collaboration with Startale Labs, founded by Sota Watanabe, the Director of Sony Block Solution Labs. 

Astar network, also co-founded by Sota Watanabe, was selected as the base infrastructure provider for Sonieum’s testnet launch.

The Soneium testnet will leverage Astar network’s zkEVM to integrate its assets and the underlying infrastructure to boost the new chain’s initial liquidity. 

Key players in the Web3 sector, such as Circle, Alchemy, The Graph, and Chainlink, alongside Optimism, were announced as early experimenters on the upcoming blockchain.

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