Sony unveiled its new public testnet, Soneium Minato, and developer incubator, Soneium Spark.

The Soneium Spark incubator offers developers a wide range of benefits, including investments of up to $100,000 and other funding opportunities through program partners. Developers who qualify will also receive "official support from the Sony Group, Astar Network, and Startale," according to Sony Block Solutions Labs Director Sota Watanabe.

Astar Network is a "special partner" of the new blockchain and will support participants of the Soneium Spark program along with Circle (issuer of USD Coin), developer of the second-layer solution for Ethereum Optimism, development platform Alchemy, decentralized indexing system The Graph, and oracle network Chainlink. The Soneium blockchain is based on the OP Stack codebase from Optimism.

Sony subsidiaries, including the music, film, education, innovation fund, and gaming headset division Inzone, will also participate in the Soneium Spark incubator.

Sony Block Solution Labs Chairman Jun Watanabe noted that the testnet was opened to create a fan community that unites different values ​​through Soneium.

Sony began collaborating with Astar developer Startale in June 2023, when fiber internet provider Sony Network Communications invested $3.5 million in the company. Following the launch of Soneium, the Sony division changed its name to Sony BSL.

It is worth noting that Sony has made moves in the Web3 and metaverse space before. In April 2021, the company invested in advancing the Epic Games metaverse, and in 2022, Sony Music invested in MakersPlace, an NFT marketplace dedicated to digital art. In April of this year, Sony Bank announced that it was testing its own stablecoin for payments related to the company's intellectual property.

The launch of Soneium Minato and the Soneium Spark incubator highlight Sony's ambitions in the Web3 space and its aspiration to become a leading player in this field.