Startale CEO on Sony- and SBI-Backed Layer-2 Plans

As competitors amongst Ethereum Layer-2 chains intensifies, Startale Group is positioning Soneium as a compliance-first platform rooted in Japan. With companions equivalent to SBI and Sony, the corporate goals to mix monetary infrastructure with entertainment-driven adoption.

CEO Sota Watanabe spoke to BeInCrypto in regards to the long-term imaginative and prescient, development metrics, decentralization, and regulation. The venture seeks to face out globally.

Background: Can a Japan-Born L2 Compete?

L2BEAT listed Soneium with methodology notes and governance dangers. OKLink confirmed heavy on-chain throughput. Blockscout information ERC-4337 account-abstraction operations, offering a clear log of user-level interactions. Collectively, these indicators present that Soneium is already working at actual scale beneath exterior scrutiny. They show {that a} Japan-born Layer-2 can meet transparency benchmarks set by world leaders.

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Sony arrange a JV and incubator in 2023. It introduced Soneium growth in 2024 and launched mainnet in 2025. In the meantime, SBI Holdings printed joint-venture plans to attach Soneium with capital markets. Collectively, these alliances sign how leisure and finance are converging in Japan’s blockchain panorama.

Mission and World Imaginative and prescient: Can Japan Lead?

Startale’s medium- and long-term objectives deal with constructing a world place past 2025. The corporate goals to show how a Japan-born blockchain can compete on the highest degree. With Soneium, the SBI three way partnership, and different initiatives, Startale is extending its presence throughout each know-how and finance.

Nevertheless, as tasks multiply, the imaginative and prescient will not be at all times clear. Watanabe mentioned the agency was based to show Japan might ship enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure. Subsequently, compliance and reliability, not hypothesis, stay the highest priorities.

“We believe that the next iteration of the internet will be built on blockchains. I want to see Japan take a lead on that. That’s the reason we founded Startale. We aimed to show Japan can develop world-class blockchain infrastructure. This isn’t just for crypto enthusiasts. It’s for enterprises. It’s for companies like Sony, SBI, and other global conglomerates that demand reliability, compliance, and security.”

Mission: Convey the World Onchain.

How: Make the most of distribution channels and conventional belongings.

What: Construct chains to apps vertically beginning with Sony and SBI.

Why: Simpler for current firms to accumulate crypto customers than for crypto to accumulate current customers.

That’s us.

— Sota Watanabe (@WatanabeSota) September 18, 2025

He added that the long-term imaginative and prescient is for Japan to face as a world chief in blockchain. Simply because the nation exported manufacturing and tradition, Startale goals to export blockchain infrastructure. To realize this, the agency is constructing a group that blends engineering experience with enterprise growth and partnerships.

Funding Story: Resilience Amid Headwinds?

The broader Layer-2 market is seeing slowing capital inflows. Present tokens additionally battle to maintain investor enchantment. How Soneium is perceived due to this fact issues. Watanabe famous that scale and composability are actually baseline options. Consequently, Startale goals to face out by way of distribution channels and new consumer segments.

“The industry has been maturing. Competition has shifted beyond existing crypto users to entirely new user segments who have never engaged with crypto before. The number of companies moving on-chain in 2025 makes this clear. Startale and Astar have worked on this since 2023. We are good at securing distribution channels, and that becomes a moat.”

He cited exercise information: as of September 2025, Soneium had processed over 295 million transactions (OKLink confirmed 297.16 million). It averaged roughly 90,000 every day energetic addresses and greater than 4.8 million addresses in complete. It additionally recorded over 350,000 account-abstraction operations. These figures, due to this fact, show scale.

Nevertheless, L2BEAT’s Whole Worth Secured rankings present Arbitrum and Base securing tens of billions in belongings, underscoring the hole. Furthermore, tutorial analysis equivalent to Optimistic MEV in Ethereum Layer 2s highlights how MEV extraction and spam masses differ throughout Arbitrum, Base, and Optimism. This frames Soneium’s development not solely in uncooked numbers but in addition within the high quality of utilization.

On the identical time, Flashbots analyzed spam masses throughout OP-Stack rollups, reminding observers to weigh high quality alongside throughput. Requested which metrics matter most—TVL, consumer base, or software development—he as an alternative pointed to distribution channels. In his view, securing new pipelines for adoption is a extra sturdy moat than chasing uncooked numbers.

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Token Design: Sustainability or Sticking Level?

Soneium at present makes use of ETH as fuel. However questions stay about native tokens and sustainable income. Watanabe acknowledged {that a} native token might arrive later, a difficulty tied to U.S. SEC scrutiny of Layer-2 “independence.”

For now, he careworn that sustainable income should come from sequencer charges, joint ventures, and compliance-driven companies. Token incentives, in contrast, are short-lived. The U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee issued KPI-disclosure steerage that requires readability on development and worth creation. Subsequently, Watanabe emphasised reinvesting sequencer revenues, joint-venture revenue, and account-abstraction exercise again into the ecosystem as an alternative of counting on fast token incentives.

“The Layer-2 ecosystem has matured quickly. Differentiators like scale, composability, and protocol-level innovation are now baseline requirements. Simply launching with a bridge or a DEX isn’t enough. Our approach is to secure distribution, expand into new user bases, and reinvest sequencer and JV revenues into the ecosystem to support long-term growth.”

Sony’s Edge: Catalyst for Native Demand?

Soneium’s TVL nonetheless leans on bridged belongings. DeFiLlama reveals this reliance clearly, in distinction to the extra diversified liquidity profiles of Arbitrum and Optimism.

However, Sony’s IP offers a shopper channel few chains can match. Watanabe outlined plans to tokenize music, movie, and gaming content material. He additionally highlighted wallets, compliance instruments, and account abstraction to make experiences seamless.

“Startale is working on entertainment and media use cases on top of Soneium. We offer opportunities to tokenize music, film, and gaming with ecosystem builders. We also provide wallets, account abstraction, and compliance tools that enable these fan experiences and monetization models. This drives native demand because users engage with content they love, not speculation.”

Between Centralization and Decentralization

Soneium nonetheless runs a centralized sequencer and a centralized fraud-proof authority. L2BEAT already flags these as governance dangers. Arbitrum’s DAO, as an example, enforces timelocks on upgrades. In the meantime, Base stays tied to Coinbase by way of its sequencer. On this context, Soneium’s phased method seems like a deliberate stability between usability and compliance.

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“Pure decentralization without usability won’t achieve mass adoption. Complete centralization defeats the purpose of Web3. We began with a centralized sequencer for stability and scale. From there, we are upgrading the network step by step toward more open and eventually decentralized models.”

He cited the Yoake live performance app, the place followers voted on-chain with out realizing it. This instance reveals how invisible UX can merge compliance with Web3 capabilities.

Enterprise Technique in Asia: Belief as a Pillar?

In Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, enterprises prioritize auditability and predictable prices. For a Sony-aligned L2, belief is central. Watanabe described three pillars: regulatory-first infrastructure, cross-border scalability, and developer-friendly integration. Startale calls this framework Leisure Tokenized Belongings (ETA). It packages programmable rights and royalties round cultural IP. Thus, enterprises can undertake blockchain with out sacrificing compliance or consumer belief.

“Our strategy focuses on enabling enterprise adoption, and Soneium is a key part of that. Enterprises care most about three pillars: regulation with robust security, scalability across Asia and beyond, and seamless infrastructure such as wallets and account abstraction.”

Connecting Japan’s Strengths to Capital Markets

Startale and SBI shaped a three way partnership to launch tokenized inventory and RWA markets. SBI Holdings printed an in depth launch on the initiative. Watanabe argued that Japan’s mixture of regulatory readability, trusted establishments, and cultural IP offers a bonus in shaping tokenization at scale.

“Japan has a unique combination of strengths that can shape the future of tokenization. Our regulatory clarity, trusted financial institutions, and globally influential cultural IP put us in a position few other markets can match. Our broader vision is to make Japan a model for how tokenized markets can work at scale.”

Managing Settlement Lags and Value Gaps

Tokenized belongings in different contexts revealed foundation threat from gaps between on-chain execution and off-chain settlement. Watanabe mentioned Startale will apply safeguards modeled on conventional markets, together with circuit-breaker-style pauses and clear consumer disclosures calibrated with regulators.

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“Settlement lags and pricing gaps are real challenges in tokenized markets, and our principle is simple: Startale builds infrastructure that applies regulated-market standards. Automated safeguards can pause trading when discrepancies exceed thresholds, calibrated with regulators and modeled on existing standards for circuit breakers.”

Japan’s Monetary Providers Company finalized guidelines beneath the Cost Providers Act and the Monetary Devices and Alternate Act (FIEA). As well as, Reuters reported that additional amendments might develop the scope of monetary devices.

Stablecoin Interoperability and UX

By 2025, a number of regulated stablecoins are anticipated to coexist—from bank-backed devices to USDC and GHO—elevating UX challenges. Watanabe mentioned infrastructure ought to take in complexity, not customers. With account abstraction, customers can depend on acquainted log-ins, restoration flows, and gasless transactions. Chambers & Companions outlined how Japan’s stablecoin regime aligns with this compliance-first design.

“We expect multiple bank-backed and regulated stablecoins to coexist, and we design for interoperability across them. Our philosophy is simple: Web3 should feel as intuitive as Web2. Behind the scenes, our account abstraction framework removes friction—users can log in with familiar credentials, recover accounts easily, and transact without worrying about gas.”

Tokenization and the Function of ETFs

Japan’s blockchain market might develop materially this decade. This raises questions on whether or not tokenization will scale back reliance on ETFs and proxy shares. Watanabe argued that direct, fractional, programmable publicity with real-time settlement can streamline company actions and alter how liquidity is packaged.

“Tokenization fundamentally redefines the role of ETFs and proxy stocks by removing the need for layered financial wrappers. A token can directly represent the underlying asset with real-time settlement, transparent ownership, and global reach. Smart contracts enable automated market making and peer-to-peer trading across time zones, while treasuries can automate dividends and governance rights, lowering costs and operational risk.”

Regulatory and Coverage Technique

World frameworks are evolving. The European Fee printed Markets in Crypto-Belongings (MiCA) texts. Japan’s Monetary Providers Company finalized home guardrails. The U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee additionally issued KPI-disclosure steerage. Watanabe framed Startale’s infrastructure as compliant by design. Consequently, he argued that Japan can function a mannequin for balancing innovation with belief.

“We were early supporters of Japan’s Payment Services Act and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act because they provide a clear framework that balances innovation with trust. Our job is to ensure our infrastructure meets not only Japan’s standards but also MiCA, SEC guidance, and other global rules. Ultimately, our goal is for Japan to demonstrate that Web3 can be both innovative and compliant—setting the standard for global adoption.”

Watanabe’s remarks painting Soneium as a Layer-2 designed for enterprises beneath Japan’s regulatory readability and supported by institutional partnerships. The technique emphasizes distribution channels, entertainment-driven demand, phased decentralization, and market safeguards. For traders and enterprises, the take a look at is whether or not headline development converts into sturdy adoption—and whether or not Japan’s framework can credibly function a template for world tokenization.