Soneium: The Entertainment-Grade L2
Soneium launched its mainnet in January 2025 as Sony’s flagship public blockchain. Its design ambition is clear: not only to serve crypto-native developers but to bring millions of Sony users into Web3, gamers, artists, and fans. The joint venture between Sony and Startale underpins Soneium with both corporate distribution muscle and Web3-native engineering talent.
TL;DR
Soneium is an OP Stack optimistic rollup by Sony BSL/Startale (EVM-equivalent; ETH gas; Chain ID 1868) aimed at scaling entertainment, gaming, and creator workloads on Ethereum. The summary below outlines its stack (op-geth/op-node, EIP-4844 DA, permissioned interactive fraud proofs, centralized sequencer, L1-inherited finality), key integrations (bridges/DeFi/oracles), and a current metrics snapshot; go read the list below:
System Architecture & Technical Deep Dive
Soneium's L2 blockchain is leveraging OP Stack underneath to bring fast and reliable transactions at low cost. In this section, we dive deeply into its architecture.
Rollup fundamentals
Soneium is a Bedrock-based Optimistic Rollup, inheriting the OP Stack’s execution and consensus modules:
Data availability & costs
Soneium opts for strict on-chain data availability by publishing full transaction data to Ethereum using EIP-4844 blob transactions rather than calldata, which materially lowers DA spend while inheriting Ethereum’s security. In practice, the system batches and posts transaction data roughly every ~8 minutes, and pushes state updates (e.g., state roots) about every ~2 hours—balancing confirmation latency with cost efficiency. Over the past year, total L1 DA expenditure was approximately $151k; amortized, that equates to about $0.0006 in L1 cost per end-user operation, which comfortably supports sub-$0.01 all-in L2 fees at the user level. Collectively, this setup yields predictable, low fees and near-real-time data publication, with less frequent state commitments to keep costs in check without compromising verifiability.
Sequencer operations & censorship resistance
Soneium’s sequencing is presently centralized under Sony Block Solutions Labs (SBSL), since the chain is an OP Stack rollup operated by SBSL, which means transaction ordering is at the sequencer’s discretion and users must trust the operator for short-term fairness (and potential MEV/reordering risk), while relying on the rollup’s L1 escape hatches for robust safety. In line with OP Stack guarantees, users can bypass a censoring or down sequencer by submitting forced transactions on L1 for inclusion, and they can always exit via the L1 OptimismPortal2 withdrawal flow (prove → wait → finalize), which any EOA can invoke; these mechanisms are explicitly documented and widely implemented in OP Stack tooling. Notably, on Jan 14–15, 2025, several RPC frontends reportedly blocked tokens flagged for IP concerns, but users demonstrated that self-hosted RPC plus L1 forced-inclusion/withdrawal paths remained functional—i.e., operational censorship at the RPC or sequencer layer did not remove the protocol-level ability to transact or exit.
Bridging architecture
Soneium’s bridging stack follows the OP Stack “standard bridge” model: ETH and ERC-20 deposits/withdrawals flow through the L1StandardBridge and cross-domain messaging via the OptimismPortal (v2 under the hood for fault-proof support), and most users access it through the Superbridge front-end; withdrawals observe the usual ~7-day challenge window that comes with fraud-proof security. External routes complement this canonical path: Stargate (built on LayerZero) supports OFT/native-style token transfers and Hydra-based routing; Squid (on Axelar) combines bridging and destination-chain swaps via an intents-like API/SDK; gas-priming “fast” paths are commonly provided by Layerswap (including CEX→chain on-ramps) and Orbiter (cross-rollup L2↔L2 flows); and aggregators like Rango—as well as ecosystem portals such as Astar Portal and WheelX—offer one-stop UIs that pick among these bridges and DEX legs to optimize cost/latency. Together, this yields a canonical, fraud-proof bridge for trust-minimized value transfer, plus a mesh of fast/intent-based options for UX.
Oracles and off-chain data
Together, they enable DeFi protocols (DEXs, money markets, perps) to operate with reliable data.
Explorer, RPCs, and tooling
Security & risk model
Soneium’s current security posture mirrors the OP Stack’s “training-wheels” model: fraud proofs are interactive but still governed/permissioned in practice on many OP chains, meaning users don’t yet have full, production-grade permissionless challenges on every chain even though the OP roadmap targets that end state; as a result, the strongest guarantees still come from Ethereum finality plus the ability to exit. With a single, SBSL-run sequencer, short-term ordering/MEV and censorship risks exist, but OP Stack escape hatches mitigate them: users can force-include transactions or finalize withdrawals via the L1 OptimismPortal flow irrespective of sequencer behavior. Economically, Soneium’s design prioritizes cheap end-user execution over rent extraction—the team reports only ~$2k/day in sequencer fee revenue—and, as an OP Chain, it participates in the standardized fee-split that sends a portion of net revenues to the Optimism Collective (greater of 2.5% of revenue or 15% of net profit), reinforcing public-goods funding across the Superchain. Finally, the January 2025 RPC episode—in which certain frontends blocked IP-infringing memecoins—highlights a compliance-forward operational stance that some enterprises may prefer; importantly, this did not remove protocol-level exits via self-hosted RPC or L1, but it does signal potential for policy-layer intervention at the access/infra tier.
Operations & Governance
Soneium is governed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, the Singapore JV of Sony Group and Startale.
This model mirrors Base (Coinbase’s OP chain): corporate stewardship, no L2 token, security rooted in Ethereum.
Ecosystem Integrations
Soneium has created many meaningful and long-term integrations with top protocols in every segment to make a reliable and easy-to-use user experience for its users.
✨ web3 is Going Mainstream. ✨
— Soneium 💿 (@soneium) March 11, 2025
Soneium is where creativity meets scale, where builders transcend boundaries to shape the future.
From DeFi to Gaming, Infra to Social—our ecosystem is packed with applications unlocking emotion-driven experiences in web3.
🌟 Unleash. Build. Go… pic.twitter.com/4pCVQV88ID
Bridges
DEXs
Lending & Oracles
Consumer & SocialFi
Network & Market Metrics
Soneium’s activity illustrates a high-throughput, low-fee L2 where most value resides in ETH, BTC derivatives, and stablecoins. Usage is sustained by a core base of active traders and gamers, evidenced by the large transaction count relative to DAU. The table below is a snapshot on September 14th, 2025.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total transactions | ~264.6M |
| Total addresses | ~9.25M |
| Daily transactions | ~1.53M |
| Block time | ~2s |
| Typical fee | < $0.01 |
| TVS | ~$136.9M (≈ $38.9M canonical, $93.6M external, $4.4M native) |
| Stablecoins market cap | ~$26.1M |
| Bridged TVL (DefiLlama) | ~$55.3M |
| DEX volume (24h / 30d) | ~$2.3M / ~$83M |
| Perps volume (24h / 7d) | ~$2.9M / ~$18.5M |
| Chain fees (24h) | ~$1.9K–$2K |
Outlook & Roadmap
Soneium is not “just another OP chain.” It is uniquely backed by Sony’s distribution empire, meaning integrations with PlayStation, Sony Music, or Sony Pictures could onboard millions.
On the technical side, decentralizing fraud proofs and sequencer operations will be important to reduce trust assumptions. On the ecosystem side, the growth of DeFi TVL, perps markets, and native SocialFi projects indicates Soneium is maturing into both a consumer-facing and liquidity-rich L2.
Conclusion
Soneium combines Ethereum’s rollup security, the OP Stack’s Superchain connectivity, and Sony’s mainstream distribution. Technically, it operates as a performant, EVM-equivalent optimistic rollup with blobs, centralized sequencing, and permissioned fraud proofs, common tradeoffs for early OP chains.
For users and developers, the ecosystem is production-ready: major bridges, DEXs, lending protocols, and oracles are live, alongside native entertainment and gaming dApps. On the metrics side, Soneium already handles over 1.5M tx/day, 9M+ addresses, and ~$137M in secured assets within its first year.
Its long-term vision is to merge consumer entertainment rails with Ethereum liquidity, making it a significant case study for corporate-backed Layer-2 adoption.
Resources & Further Reading
Frequently asked questions
Check out most commonly asked questions, addressed based on community needs. Can't find what you are looking for?
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How do I bridge assets to Soneium?
Easily open Rango Exchange, connect your wallet, and enjoy bridging and swapping to or from Soneium.
How do I add Soneium to MetaMask?
In MetaMask, Add network → enter Soneium RPC details (or one-click via Chainlist) and confirm; Soneium uses ETH as gas and is EVM-equivalent, so standard tooling works out-of-the-box.
Why are Soneium fees low—does it use blobs?
Yes. As an OP Stack rollup posting data to Ethereum with EIP-4844 blob transactions, Soneium benefits from a cheaper data market, helping keep L2 fees under a cent during normal conditions.
