Sony, the global technology leader perhaps best known for its consumer electronics, has announced its development of the “Soneium” blockchain.

Soneium has been developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, which is a joint venture between the Sony Group and Singapore-based Startale Labs. It works as a layer-2 network built on top of the pre-existing Ethereum blockchain.

According to a statement, it’s a public blockchain with an open network that “anyone can participate in,” where compatible app-provided Web3 games and NFT marketplaces, among other things, can be accessed via the user’s digital wallet.

In addition to existing Web3 services that will be compatible with the blockchain, Sony Block Solutions Labs said that they will investigate how “new services that collaborate with businesses within the Sony Group can be developed as Soneium-compatible apps.”

The Labs are planning on releasing a testnet for app developers and creators looking to utilise Soneium soon, and that they’ll continue to work towards a publicly available Soneium mainnet.

Jun Watanabe is head of advanced infrastructure business search department, business development platform at Sony Group Corporation, and chairman of Sony Block Solutions Labs.

On the development of Soneium and the future plans for it, Watanabe said: “I think the development of a comprehensive Web3 solution based on blockchain is very significant to the Sony Group, which has developed a wide variety of businesses under its purpose of ‘Fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology.’

“We will work to create diverse businesses and new use cases with the aim of delivering customer value that can only be enjoyed through Web3 technology to as many users as possible and making people’s lives richer and more colorful.

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Sota Watanabe, director of Sony Block Solutions Labs, also commented: “The Web3 industry is in the midst of a major transformation.

“We believe that the watershed moment for the entire Web3 industry will be whether we, as companies involved in Web3, can truly provide solutions that billions of people use as a matter of course in their daily lives and make Web3 mainstream in the next few years.

“We believe that Soneium has great potential to lead the world and realize this vision, and we would like to collaborate with a variety of developers and companies, transcending the boundaries of countries, regions, and industries.”