In light of the recent collaboration between Astar Network and Sony, coupled with the successful integration and full transition of Astar zkEVM into the Soneium ecosystem, I would like to propose a strategic rebranding initiative.
Proposal Overview:
I propose that Astar Network undergo a full rebranding to Soneium or Soneium Network, with a corresponding rebrand of the $ASTR token to the ticker $SONY. This rebranding will symbolize the complete integration of Astar Network into the Sony ecosystem, positioning it as the official Layer 1 blockchain of Sony’s Web3 ventures.
Rationale:
Sony Partnership: Given the high-profile collaboration with Sony, rebranding Astar as Soneium would align Astar Network more closely with Sony’s branding and reputation. This would signal to the market and the wider crypto community that Astar is now deeply embedded in Sony’s ecosystem.
Astar zkEVM Transition: The transition of Astar zkEVM into Soneium marks a significant milestone for the network. A full rebrand will serve as a clear, forward-looking message that Astar Network has evolved into the backbone of Sony’s blockchain ambitions.
Token Rebrand to $SONY: Rebranding the $ASTR token to $SONY will strengthen the association between the network and Sony, driving more recognition and utility for the token as part of the Sony ecosystem. This could unlock new use cases for $SONY, particularly within Sony’s broader product and digital entertainment portfolio.
Benefits:
Stronger Brand Recognition: The Soneium brand will be recognized globally due to Sony’s existing dominance in technology, gaming, and entertainment. This will attract new users, developers, and investors to the ecosystem.
Layer 1 Expansion: With Astar Network rebranded as Soneium Network, Sony’s major projects could be run natively on this Layer 1 blockchain, maximizing security, scalability, and user experience.
Enhanced Tokenomics: Introducing new burn mechanisms for the $SONY token will not only increase scarcity but also drive long-term value appreciation. Burn mechanisms can be integrated into transaction fees, governance participation, or other ecosystem activities, making the token deflationary over time.
Increased Adoption: This rebranding could lead to more widespread adoption of the network, both from Sony’s user base and new partners who wish to collaborate within the Sony blockchain ecosystem.
Next Steps:
Community Discussion: Open a forum for community input and discussion on the rebranding proposal.
Partnership Confirmation: Formalize the specifics of the collaboration with Sony and their approval for using the $SONY ticker.
Rebrand Implementation: Develop a detailed roadmap for the transition from Astar Network and $ASTR to Soneium Network and $SONY.
I strongly believe this rebranding will propel Astar/Soneium to new heights, cementing its place as a leading Layer 1 blockchain within the Web3 space, powered by Sony’s vast resources and influence.
I look forward to hearing the community’s thoughts on this proposal.
In my opinion, I believe that a complete rebranding integration is not necessary. Therefore, I also think that rebranding the token is unnecessary. (If there were plans for such an integration, I don’t think there would have been an announcement like Astar Evolution.)
I think it is more constructive for Astar and Soneium to develop independently while creating synergies using blockchain-specific elements.
As you know, Sony is a very large company. In the current market situation, making a decision on such an integration as you propose would require a lot of discussion and time involving many stakeholders. Instead, I prefer the idea of collaborating as a community, which feels more in line with the spirit of web3 and would not hinder the speed of expansion.
Astar and Soneium are two different projects - related but not the same. This proposal makes no sense at all.
We are working close to a private company, one of the largest holding in the world Sony group. They control Soneium and all the decision (supported by Startale).
Also, working with giants enterprise like Sony is totally different from working with tiny startups like all the crypto ecosystem blockchain. There are a lot of regulations, stakeholders, direction board, stakeholders and roadmap developed by Sony Group.
There is no $SONY token, and also this is not something Astar community can simply claim.
It’s more productive if we educate the Soneium community about the pros about $ASTR and how $ASTR token used as a utility token in the Soneium ecosystem can bring benefits to the Astar community. At this point, they have no community so WE ARE THE COMMUNITY Let’s act smart.
I really appreciate your effort and your willingness to pursue this, but I don’t think a proposal like this makes much sense.
Astar doesn’t have the authority to make such decisions for SONY. After all, Sony is a massive private company with its own investors and decision-making boards. It’s Sony that decides whether or not to take such a step, and we, as Astar, can’t simply make them follow our wishes through a proposal in the forum. While I appreciate the initiative, I believe that submitting a proposal in the forum may not be the best way to achieve it.
I don’t think it’s even possible. Putting a world famous brand without even asking them could have disastrous consequences (even legal ones). Astar is working with Sony Blok Labs and not with “the whole” Sony group.
I believe there is no regulation ready in the web3 space and this kind of rebranding is not possible.
I agree with @pitcoin777 and I think we should focus more on creating real interest and a strong community instead of trying to catch the attention of VCs/speculators.
Agreeing with the others here. Dont think thats possible and wanted, these are two different projects, which will benefit from each other, but I am pretty sure there won’t be a fusion between these two. There is a probably to much regulation aswell to make something like that happen.
Thank you for the proposal; let me clarify: Astar and Soneium are separate projects. Due to Soneium’s backing by the Sony Group, the structures are entirely different from the majority of the blockchain ecosystem. There are layers of regulation, stakeholders, and a roadmap that was sculpted by Sony, meaning the dynamic is far from similar to the one with startups.
Instead of focusing on a rebrand, it would be more strategic to educate the Soneium community about the benefits of having $ASTR as a utility token inside their ecosystem. Since their community is still young, we can take the lead-Astar-and show the way in which $ASTR fits into the broader perspective. Let’s do this smart and guide the growth together!
Thanks for the proposal I agree with the previous comments, the positive thing is that this proposal will give a vision to the community of what are the roles for Astar and Soneium, my colleagues just gave very good points of view of why can not produce an integration of Astar with Soneium, Astar is a piece of Soneium a part of its gear, and as a community we must make the most of this partnership.
Let me express my personal opinion here, mostly same with others :
Eventhough the team who built Astar and Soneium are the same team, but still it is very different. Astar already had community but this is the case, most projects that joined Astar are experimental unlike other chains, and most successfull projects on Astar landscape are Arthswap and Algem for this 2 years. Both are DeFi where Arthswap is common AMM Dex and Algem is LST focusing on ASTR and depends to dApp Staking, and few others mostly highly experimental like DeStore, Neurolaunche, SkyLab, etc. Lot of projects that came to Astar dApp Staking is PoC ready but not yet proven its real usability. I dont know with others but I would like to say that ASTR holders who staked on them could be their early supporter and if they are succeed definetely you all can get a boost on your own bag.
Soneium existence along with its global reach and backed by Sony will definetely is the best chain to prove whether their ideas/concepts could work. Since on Astar its reach only limited to crypto bros only, and our chain’s active users unlike other chains, we could proud to say that we got a lot of stakers but sadly, not on-chain users. If those projects succesfully works on Soneium and getting attention → this means small dev teams could get attracted to Astar because Astar is becoming the getaway to had their initial operational cost covered before they getting fundraised by VC. We only need a single project that was born natively on Astar, grew their early community on Astar and success on Soneium. This could give a very huge boost to Astar reputation, as RnD chain to Soneium.
By legal, I dont think Soneium who were backed by Sony will launch its own token for now, as it can deemed seriously as securities no matter its a rebranding from Astar or not, and dont forget Astar with its inflation tokenomic model. Ethereum with its infinite inflation tokenomic model need 1 decade to prove that they are a public decentralized network. Eventhough Japan gov regulations are pro to web3 but not for its cryptocurrency especially a native token who were minted by their own on their initial launching. Astar, on the other hand, already almost 4 years on the market, and it is not a native token to Soneium. So it has a big leverage for new users who just recently getting exposed to Soneium (both cryptobros or vanilla users) as long Soneium didn’t have its own token. Judging the ASTR price now, it could give a massive boost. Astar community happy, dapp builders happy, Sony happy with their chain growth, it’s a win win solution.
So my conclusion for now, we eventually didnt need to do a rebranding for Sony token. But as Astar community, we need to do a lot of due dilligence and closely monitoring those projects who get listed on dApp Staking and want to initially publish their own native token on Soneium. Because if its failed or worst rugged, Astar reputation could be hurt badly. That’s why I really hope to all Astar community to always closely monitor those listed projects. And for new projects who directly build to Soneium without getting knew of Astar previously, we can engage within their community to integrate ASTR to their projects and we can propose a dApp staking proposal for them to get listed on Astar portal. It will attract new ASTR staker and dApp builders can had a new source of small income to cover their operational cost. It’s fair enough I think.
Personal tots. I would prefer not to do a rebranding for astarnetwork to Sonieum and $Astr to $Sony.
I see both project as independent project. And i would prefer the doors to be open for other web2 collaboration…
Example if Samsung would like to have their own network, they can also use $Astr as their utility token.
In this way,we are not limiting other collaboration from other companies. And by doing so we are widening the usage of $ASTR to multiple network (if possible) … and that is truly multi-chain.
I approve your thought. I really like your vision of Astar as Sony’s (Soneium) R&D environment for new dApps. This could be another good narrative for Astar, that could becoming the central environment for new Soneium projects where startups are able to finance part of the costs related to startup and development via dapp staking. A synergy between Astar and Soneium that creates almost a single ecosystem with the incubation, research and development part on Astar Network…I hadn’t yet focused on this vision but I like it.
Thank you very much for the proposal. I feel it might be better that Astar keeps the current brand, we would need to have agreement with Sony for any rebranding, and Sony is already listed as stocks, there might be issues to have a SONY token, also, Astar had its reputation already, rebrand to SONY may not be the best solution for Astar itself, Astar might be able to work with other big Web2 companies in the future, but if rebrand to SONY, it would be more difficult to do that, overall, I think there are a lot of opportunities waiting for Astar, there is no need to rebrand Astar
IMO this would not be a good move. We can help Sony in many ways but cannot rebrand with existing tech. This will only create a temporary hype and there are many other factors to keep in mind.
I also in general have the same thoughts as others shared their opinions. On top of it, I personally think that it is indeed an important moment for Astar Network community to keep an eye and DD on the dApps listed on dAppstaking. Astar Network will eventually also have more exposure to new devs and builders willing to contribute, we then might be somewhat responsible to actively participate in the discussion and to distinguish the potential dApps to grow together with the ecosystem the most so that the entire ecosystem gets more healthier over iterations.
Let’s act smart.