Soneium brings Web 3.0 to the mainstream; Startale Group promotes the spread of Web 3.0; Interview with Sota Watanabe, Startale Group/Astar Network

Please tell us your thoughts on the outlook for the Web3.0 field in 2025.

Sota Watanabe (hereinafter, Watanabe): I think that from this year onwards, rather than a competition between protocols, applications for users will become more important. Instead of applications that can only be used by people with a deep understanding of Web3.0 as in the past, Web3.0 applications that do not make users aware of Web3.0 will be required. For this reason, Startail is focusing on Account Abstraction, which is the key to realizing a Web2.0-like user experience.

We also believe that there is a strong synergy between Web3.0 technology and the entertainment field. For example, "Yoake Space", which runs on Soneium, has already achieved a Web2.0-friendly UX, and through collaboration with a well-known idol group, has onboarded many users who are completely unfamiliar with Web3.0. I hope to see more use cases like this in the future.

Please tell us why Astar Network considers Soneium, the Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain developed by Sony, to be important.