Censorship Concerns Mar Launch of Sony Blockchain ‘Soneium’

Earlier this week Sony launched the mainnet of its Soneium blockchain following several months in which the network had operated only as a testnet. The testnet version of Soneium had seen impressive usage, with over 14 million accounts created and over 47 million transactions processed. 

However concerns over the centralised nature of the network have overshadowed the launch, after several meme tokens were apparently blacklisted by Sony on the network’s very first day of operation.

Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, took to X / Twitter to share his thoughts saying Ethereum layer 2s allow for businesses like Sony to control the level of openness of the system and make the rules transparent to users. He described the situation as “a good live demonstration of how launching an ethereum L2 is great for businesses *and* users”. 

Related: Sony Pushes into Web3 Space with Own Blockchain “Soneium”

Memecoins Blacklisted on Sony’s Ethereum Layer 2 Network

Soneium is an Ethereum layer 2 network built on top of Optimism’s OP stack, it was built by Sony Block Solutions Labs, Sony’s Singapore-based blockchain focussed subsidiary. The network has launched with a range of additional services, including a crypto exchange known as S.BLOX and a NFT marketplace known as SNFT, the latter of which plans to add a fan marketing platform in February. 

Sony says it launched Soneium to combat what it sees as the growing concentration of internet services in the hands of a few big players, such as Amazon Web Services. 

Somewhat ironically though, reports from users have emerged claiming Sony has blacklisted memecoins it deems to have impinged intellectual property rights, resulting in millions of dollars worth of losses for investors. This hasn’t gone down well with the crypto community.

Crypto Figures Weigh in on Censorship Concerns

The pseudonymous founder of the Solana-based meme launchpad pump.fun, Alon, attacked the actions of Sony and warned users that there’s nothing to stop other centralised L2s from doing the same thing, and urging his followers not to take the freedom provided by more open blockchain networks for granted:

The founder of Time.fun, Kawz, added to the chorus of criticism, saying that the blacklisted tokens are now inaccessible, resulting in the loss of over US$100,000 (AU$161k) of investors’ assets. Essentially, Kawz says, these investors have been rug-pulled by Sony:

But Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, had a more nuanced take, claiming the ability to fine-tune the level of control and censorship on Ethereum layer 2 networks is a strength, benefitting both businesses and users:

Buterin said businesses using layer 2 networks can opt to make them very open, very tightly controlled, or anywhere in between — the key though, according to the Ethereum co-founder is that in any case the rules of the network will be public via the blockchain and known to all participants:

Related: Vitalik’s Meme Magic: $1M in Memecoins Liquidated Causes Market Mayhem!

Buterin added that in his opinion this is an example of free markets working as they should, saying: