On August 28, Sony Block Solutions Labs (Sony BSL) launched the Soneium Minato public testnet and Soneium Spark incubator on August 28. Soneium Spark will offer developers a range of benefits, including investments of up to $100,000 and other financing opportunities through partners in the program. In a statement, Sota Watanabe, director of Sony Block Solutions Labs, said that eligible developers will also receive "official support from Sony Group, Astar Network and Startale." AstarNetwork is a "special partner" of this emerging blockchain and will support Soneium Spark participants together with USDCoin issuer Circle, Ethereum second-layer solution developer Optimism, development platform Alchemy, decentralized index system TheGraph, and oracle network Chainlink. Soneium uses Optimism's OP Stack code base. Sony's subsidiaries will also participate in Soneium Spark, including its music, film and education departments, innovation fund, and Inzone gaming headset department.