MetaCRM

Jan 24, 2025

Flashtalk Recap: Soneium Mainnet is Live! Exploring the Ecosystem Powered by Sony

Time : 2025/1/23 (Thursday) (Taiwan Time: 20:00-21:00)
Location : MetaCRM Twitter
Hosts : MetaCRM BD | SJ
Guests : Sake Finance Co-founder – Bo, Kyo Finance Co-founder – Kai, Sonex Finance CBO – Jun
Media Partner : ABMedia

中文

SJ
Greetings everyone, welcome to the Flash talk tonight. This is Soneium. We are glad to invite Kai from Kyo Finance, Bo, co-founder of Sake Finance, Jun, the CBO of Sonex Finance, and the Chief Meme Officer from AB Media, Neo, to join us. Soneium is from Sony, also known as the Sony Enterprise Blockchain, which went live last week. Today, as builders of Soneium, we will share the upsides and downsides of Soneium in an honest way, so that the communities and builders can decide whether to participate in this mainnet.

I’m SJ from MetaCRM. MetaCRM is a solution partner in the Soneium ecosystem, providing blockchain-tailored data intelligence solutions for projects. Sony is a big enterprise with many businesses, and we believe in creating a world where Soneium’s on-chain and off-chain data can reach its full potential.

In the future, with Soneium, you can use crypto to do almost everything. You can shop, participate in DeFi protocols, buy GameFi assets, and even purchase items like a Sony playstation. This client data will impact the traditional world. Enterprises pay millions to companies like Google to understand their customers. What if part of this data is on-chain and part of it is off-chain? How do you see the full picture, gain insights, and build more business models? This is the topic we are tackling.

Soneium Ecosystem Projects Introduction

Q1: Why did you choose Soneium? Please share your thoughts as builders and from a media perspective.

SJ
Now, I’m pleased to invite these early adopters of Soneium to introduce themselves and their projects. Bo, would you like to go first?

Bo – Sake Finance
Sure. Hey, everyone, thanks for inviting us. Just a quick intro—we are one of the earliest DeFi projects to launch on Soneium. We’ve been here since the start. Even when Soneium Testnet launched back in September, we went live during the first week. We’re very happy to finally launch on Mainnet and are gaining some good traction.

Regarding our product, we are running one of the most fundamental building blocks of DeFi. We have a lending and borrowing pool as well as a decentralized stablecoin built on top of it. Additionally, we are working on an abstraction layer that will allow users to interact with the underlying DeFi much more easily using an AI-driven interface.

So far, it’s been a good experience working with the Soneium team. Right now, without almost any incentives on-chain, we have a few million in TVL. As more assets are brought to the ecosystem and more rewards are prepared for users, we expect to see much more sustainable growth.

That’s it from my side.

SJ
Alright, thank you, Bo. I have a quick question, why did you choose Soneium initially? There are many other options out there, so what attracted you to them?

Bo – Sake Finance
We started our journey relatively early. I met the Soneium team back in June or July at ECC. It was quite a coincidence, as we stayed at the same hotel. Initially, I met the BD members of the team and found them to be very dedicated, working hard to meet other builders and ensure they had a solid ecosystem for their chain launch. We were impressed with the team’s operations and the Sony brand.

Many chains have launched or are launching this year. Some have strong communities, but with more institutional adoption of crypto and increased acceptance in the US, big corporations are engaging more with crypto. Sony, with its significant Web2 presence and strong connections, can collaborate with various Web2 entities. This growth is essential, as we need more people to join the ecosystem from outside of Web3. We saw potential in helping to grow the Web3 user base with Soneium and the Sony team.

SJ
All right, thank you. I really like the hotel meetup. It’s like that in the crypto world: sometimes you meet the right person, do the right things, and boom, you get all the results you want.

Thank you, Bo. Next, I’d like to invite Kai from Kyo Finance. Please introduce yourself. Thank you.

Kai – Kyo Finance
Hello, and thanks for inviting me. Let me give you some rundown about Kyo Finance. We are a DEX with vote-escrow tokenomics, similar to Aerodrome but with crucial improvements. Our key innovations include eliminating epochs, so everything happens in real-time. You can vote, claim, or add bribes whenever you want, without waiting for the next week or missing out due to timing. We’ve simplified DeFi by allowing users to add liquidity, swap tokens, and claim rewards in a single transaction, reducing the need for endless clicking and gas fees.

For traders, we’ve built smart split routing to reduce price impact and support batch swaps with multiple inputs and outputs. In terms of governance, we’ve replaced illiquid ve NFTs with fungible V tokens, making everything more liquid and user-friendly. Our smart voting feature optimizes your voting APR automatically. Additionally, we’ve created an arbitrage revenue payback system for LPs to maximize yields while keeping things simple.

Our pool system is fully configurable, supporting everything from basic ERC-20 tokens to NFTs and beyond. That’s Kyo Finance—making DeFi work the way it should have from the start.

SJ
Thank you, Kai. User-friendliness is always a key topic for Soneium. I’ve met many builders who discuss this, even those outside the crypto space, especially since they’re from Sony. It’s crucial for our mission to bring more non-crypto users on board.

Thank you again, Kai. Now, the next person I would like to invite to share about themselves is Jun, the CBO of Sonex.

Jun – Sonex Finance
Hey guys, thanks for having me. Here’s a quick introduction to Sonex:

Sonex is an AI-powered DEX hub built exclusively on Soneium. We’re positioned as the flagship DEX for the Soneium ecosystem, bridging the foundation between GameFi, DeFi, and entertainment. Sonex aims to eliminate fragmentation in the DeFi space by offering an all-in-one solution for decentralized trading, including liquidity pools, decentralized trading pairs, staking, yield farming, and other DeFi services.

Our team is particularly excited about our AI-powered features currently in development. One of these core features is “Alpha Hunting,” which helps users discover profitable opportunities and trading strategies based on market data and trends. Users can leverage Sonex’s AI-powered tools to find hidden opportunities, optimize their trading strategies, and stay ahead of the market.

Regarding why we chose Soneium, the Soneium blockchain positions itself as an entertainment blockchain, combining Sony’s industry-leading entertainment portfolio with blockchain technology to create a new world for decentralized financial services and digital entertainment. We saw this as an opportunity for protocols and projects building within Sony to tightly integrate with the ecosystem while benefiting from Sony’s vast resources, technical expertise, and global brand presence. We believe this is a unique advantage that no other blockchain currently offers.

That’s a quick intro from my side. Thanks, everyone.

SJ
Thank you, Jun. You mentioned the potential of being an entertainment blockchain, and I think we can explore that topic further later. Thank you for sharing.

Now, I’m grateful to invite AB Media, one of the biggest and most influential media outlets in Taiwan. Neo, the Chief Meme Officer from AB Media, please share your perspective on Soneium. Thank you.

Neo – ABMedia
Hi, I’m Neo from AB Media, one of the top three crypto media outlets based in Taiwan. I’ve written posts for DeFi protocols based on Sony, focusing on its potential. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the IP token market develops and how Sony connects Web2 and Web3. From the TVL perspective, I believe Sony is definitely underrated. It’s exciting to communicate with everyone here.

SJ
Yes, I saw the news about Soneium banning some memes on the blockchain. It’s definitely sparked a lot of discussions. The main concern seems to be about centralization and whether this move contradicts the core principles of Web3, which emphasize openness and decentralization.

Soneium Community, Culture, and Future Innovation

Q2: Do you think this move might affect the perception of Soneium in the broader crypto community?

SJ
From a builder’s perspective, it’s crucial to balance protecting intellectual property rights with maintaining a permissionless and censorship-resistant environment. It’s a complex issue, and I’m curious to hear your thoughts on it. Bo, do you want to go first?

Bo – Sake Finance
Sure, it’s a good topic. Many people have opinions on this matter. Personally, I believe any marketing is good marketing, so it might not be as bad as people think. Regarding Sony’s strategy, as a DeFi protocol, we are very open and welcome all types of projects to integrate with us. For example, if there’s a meme coin with sufficient liquidity that we consider suitable as collateral for borrowing, lending, or other strategies, we would include it, regardless of any issues it might pose to Sony. From our team’s perspective, we don’t have centralized control, but I understand Sony’s perspective.

I think this is a challenge of working with a bigger company. It’s a balance that people within Web3 will likely need to expect going forward as more institutions get involved. Many people hope institutions will buy Bitcoin and boost its value. On one side, the stronger adoption of crypto in the traditional space brings more attention, which is good, but it also brings more scrutiny. With increased regulation, not all of it will be beneficial for us. Some regulations will be more restrictive, drawing lines on what can and cannot be done. We can already see this trend with Sony.

The positive aspect within the Sony team is that part of the team is from a web3-native background, having built a star network before. This team has a good sense of the Web3 ethos and decentralization. They are trying to balance these principles with the Sony team’s approach. However, the communication could have been managed better. Going forward, it shouldn’t be too big of a problem.

SJ
Thank you, Bo. I appreciate your points. It’s all about give and take, right? We want to attract non-Web3 natives, but the emergence of Trump meme coins has sparked debate. While they can bring profit, they also absorb liquidity from projects that are actually building something. It’s a delicate balance, as meme coins often have connections with AI agents.

Jun, what do you think about this? Do you mind sharing your thoughts?

Jun – Sonex Finance
Yes, it was definitely a huge controversy, especially so soon after the mainnet launch. I agree with Bo on his points. Decentralization is not a fixed point; it’s more of a spectrum. Certain chains will fall into either a more decentralized or slightly less decentralized category. Depending on the degree of decentralization, different use cases and types of users will utilize that chain.

We can agree that Soneium aims to bridge Web2 and Web3 entertainment. They are likely exploring how to bridge Web2 IP on-chain and manage it effectively. To protect IP with longer histories, certain structures or guidelines need to be in place to make institutions and potential Web2 IP holders feel comfortable moving from Web2 to Web3.

Overall, it’s probably not as big of a deal as people think. The team understands the core Web3 ethos and values, and they will be respected. As long as the communication is transparent, with clear guidelines about what is allowed and what isn’t, regularly communicated to the community, builders, and developers, we don’t see any problems here at Sonex.

SJ
Yes, definitely. Thank you for bringing up these points. From what we know, traditional IP from the traditional world requires regulation to be brought on board to the crypto world. It’s all about give and take.

Kai from Kyo Finance, would you like to share your perspective on this topic?

Kai – Kyo Finance
I agree with both. The recent blacklisting situation was definitely interesting because we are huge believers in decentralization and permissionlessness, which is why we are in crypto. We are in a phase where Web2 and Web3 are starting to mesh together, and with major players like Sony and Soneium involved, there will be growing pains.

Was their approach perfect? Probably not, but it can be improved. The main point is transparency—talk with the community and make them aware. At Kyo, we focus on building DeFi tools that work for everyone. The space is still quite young, and we are figuring out how to mix Web2 and Web3 together. The key is to keep an open dialogue and ensure we move in a direction that benefits the whole ecosystem while staying true to the essence of crypto.

This is something the community should continue to discuss and help shape moving forward.

SJ
Yes, thank you for sharing. Effective communication is crucial. The community is always rational and understands the upsides and downsides of this issue. Thank you for sharing, Kai.

Neo, what are your thoughts on this incident from a media perspective?

Neo – ABMedia
Yeah. As Jun mentioned earlier, meme tokens are becoming very popular recently. One problem is that Web2 IP owners can benefit from their memes. Sony has the advantage of bringing Web2 IP into Web3 for memes. For example, Sony Music could collaborate with Sony to launch meme coins for famous singers. Sony’s rules only allow legal IP to launch their own meme coins, protecting creators. This makes Synonym an advantageous choice for Web2 IP to start their Web3 journey. If a meme coin has Web2 IP backing, it can thrive because it’s an official meme coin. For instance, there are many Trump memes, but only the official Trump meme coin can be significant.

SJ
I think it’s a good point. Trump is also a type of meme coin, and launching projects with NFT meme coins is another approach. The care taken in selecting which ones are best for the community can contribute to a healthy ecosystem.

What’s Next for Soneium Ecosystem Projects

Q3: What do you think is next for your projects in Soneium?

SJ
Next, I’d be glad to discuss the possibilities that Soneium ignites and offer some advice to builders and the community, especially considering the recent mainnet launch and the AI direction you’ve mentioned.

Jun, please go ahead and share your thoughts on what’s next for your project, especially your focus on AI and the reasons behind choosing that direction.

Jun – Sonex Finance
For us, AI is definitely going to be a core focus in our development roadmap, including any new features we release. One of the key reasons we decided to focus so heavily on AI is that while Soneium focuses on user-friendliness and good UI and UX, it is generally crucial for new users, especially Web2 users brought onto the Soneium chain through either Sony’s brand or other institutions partnering with the Soneium chain, to have extremely easy navigation through various Defi protocols. Without AI-powered features like automated swaps and automated portfolio management, it can still be very difficult for a new Web2 user to navigate and utilize a DEFI protocol. For us, that is one of the key reasons we’re focusing on the AI aspect. Additionally, the AI trend and craze are not going anywhere. Incorporating these features not just in Sonex, but across other Defi protocols as well, will help Soneium Chain gain more traction. Thanks.

SJ
Thank you. What about what’s next for Kyo Finance and what are you guys trying to do?

Kai – Kyo Finance
Our focus right now is the Kyoto release, which is setting the foundation for everything we want to build. First, we want to roll out our core features, ensuring everything works properly. These include batch transactions, real-time voting, and LPO optimization. We’ve done extensive testing, gone through audits, and are confident about the technology.

What’s really exciting is how we’re positioning ourselves as Soneium grows. We’re not building just another Dex; we’re building the liquidity infrastructure that other projects can easily plug into. Think one-click integration for partners and super easy SDK implementation.

Additionally, we have some cool features in the pipeline, such as an auto compounder, advanced trading tools like limit orders and TWAP, and an aggregator to make trading more efficient. Our main focus is to get the basics absolutely right first, ensuring everything is secure, efficient, and useful for both users and builders.

SJ
Absolutely, it’s all about enhancing the user experience for non-crypto users interacting with the platform. Right?

Kai – Kyo Finance
Exactly.

SJ
Thank you, Kai. So what about you, Bo, from Sake Finance? What’s the next step?

Bo – Sake Finance
We have a few things as well. I think AI is one of the things, but I won’t talk too much about it because almost every project out there will have some kind of AI element at some point. It’s something we’ve also been looking into for the past few months. I don’t think it’s necessarily needed on day one because you still need the foundational project protocol to function well before adding a nicer, fancier user interface. It’s something we have in the pipeline.

Other than that, we are keen to get more partner assets into our project. Right now, because the mainnet has just launched, it was a relatively quiet launch. In the next few weeks, I think we will have a lot more projects and interesting assets onboarding the ecosystem. Basic things like more yield-generating assets, for example, yield-generating ETH, yield-generating BTC, some stablecoins, and maybe RWA stablecoins or potential future IP assets will be a lot more interesting in a lending and borrowing ecosystem. People can leverage these assets, borrow funds, and even do some looping strategies. All these things can be enabled by a wider variety of assets, and we’re working with some partners to get more assets into the ecosystem.

Talking about partners, that’s something we are working on pretty actively. We’re trying to integrate with other projects within the ecosystem. Most, if not all, of the projects we are already partners with. For example, Kyo Finance. Our stablecoin is listed on Kyo Finance, we have a liquidity pool there, and some strategies are coming up that allow users to borrow funds from our protocol and then use those funds within another DEX in the same transaction, potentially looping it a few times. This is something we’re going to roll out once liquidity improves a bit more, which could help generate a lot more utility within the ecosystem.

SJ
Absolutely, leveraging other assets or cross-chain assets to establish a native presence on Soneium is a solid strategy to start with.

Neo, from a media perspective, what do you think are the possibilities for Soneium and the types of projects that could flourish there?

Neo – ABMedia
I have positive thoughts about these DeFi protocols. For example, Sake Finance offers E-Mode and SRD on-chain, which is impressive. I can earn more tokens when I stake liquidity tokens. For instance, in E-Mode, I can earn more ASTAR by staking NEMO, or I can lend more USDC by staking USDT because their prices are aligned. I discovered that swap is also supported in Kyo. I believe Kyo collaborates more with other DeFi protocols, making it essentially the native stablecoin now. Leveraging liquidity strategy is a useful tool. Solv Protocol is already available on Soneium, and Sake Finance uses this strategy to achieve leverage up to 9 times. So, it’s largely about leverage strategies and similar aspects.

SJ
Thank you, Neo, for sharing. I believe there are still a lot of possibilities, and we don’t really see a lot of different types of projects happening on Soneium yet. I’m sure that will change very soon with all the efforts from our builders here.

Community Shoutout

Q4: Are there any shout-out to the community?

SJ
This is meant to be a fresh start for our community to learn about the projects and builders and their thoughts. I trust that every believer in Soneium would love to see more of Sony’s existing business utilize blockchain technology to take different approaches that will make the crypto world a better place. The early adopters here can also help push the ecosystem to a new level. Bo, do you mind going first?

Bo – Sake Finance
Yeah, thanks. First, thanks for having us again. It’s always good to have a discussion with our friends and partners in the ecosystem. The main shout-out is that we have a pretty good rewards program right now. For the first month, we have very high multipliers for some of our rewards. If you go to our platform, you’ll be able to see the rewards there. For example, we have 18x SAKE points for borrowing S1. If you borrow S1, you can pair it with USDC and provide liquidity on Kyo Finance. Definitely check it out and join our Discord. Also, early Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!

SJ
Happy Chinese New Year too. Thank you, Bo. Yeah, what about you, Kai? Just do like a final shout out to our communities.

Kai – Kyo Finance
First of all, thank you for letting me speak here. I want to give a shout-out to the Soneium community, especially the foundation teams who have been incredibly supportive throughout the development journey. Additionally, shout-out to MetaCRM. I’m using their tool to manage tickets, and everything is very smooth.

Don’t forget, you can join Kyo Finance and earn credits by providing liquidity. That’s pretty much it. Thank you for your time.

SJ
Thank you for sending us. It’s heartwarming.

Hey Jun, please give a final shout-out to the community regarding Sonex. Thank you.

Jun – Sonex Finance
Thanks again, guys, for having me. Shout-out to the community. No matter how great the products being built on Soneium are, without the community, users, and evangelists, the Soneium chain and Sonex itself wouldn’t be able to thrive within the ecosystem. So, shout-out to the community.

In terms of upcoming community initiatives, we are launching our points program very soon. We are excited to roll that out, and more details will come very shortly. Thanks again, guys. Shout-out to MetaCRM for hosting it. It was a pleasure speaking with you.

SJ
Thank You Jun. So yeah Neo, is your connectivity good now? Do you want to give a last shout out to end the night?

Neo – ABMedia
So for myself, it’s really a new journey to participate in DeFi on Sony and it’s all brand new protocols like Sake, Kyo, and Sonex. I’m aware that Soneium is part of the superchain and I’m excited for what’s next for Superchain and the cross-chain protocol.

SJ
Thank you, Neo. I think this will be reviewed step by step. We all know a lot of the insights that these early builders are providing. So, I think that will be it. Thank you, Sake Finance, Kyo Finance, Sonex, and ABMedia, for joining us tonight. If you have any airdrops or high APY events, please feel free to share them in the comments below the AMA post. Thank you, everyone. Let’s call it a night. Bye-bye.

About Sake Finance

Sake Finance is one of the earliest DeFi projects to launch on Soneium. They offer a lending and borrowing pool as well as a decentralized stablecoin built on top of it. Additionally, they are working on an abstraction layer that will allow users to interact with the underlying DeFi much more easily using an AI-driven interface.

About Kyo Finance

Kyo Finance is a DEX with vote-escrow tokenomics on the Soneium blockchain. It introduces improvements over existing models, including real-time voting and simplified DeFi interactions. They offer smart split routing for traders, liquid V tokens for governance, and an arbitrage revenue payback system for LPs. Their pool system is highly configurable, supporting various asset types.

About Sonex Finance

Sonex Finance is an AI-powered DEX hub built on the Soneium blockchain. They aim to be the flagship DEX for the Soneium ecosystem, bridging DeFi, GameFi, and entertainment. Sonex offers a comprehensive suite of DeFi services and is developing AI features to enhance user experience and optimize trading strategies.

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