Sony Embraces Blockchain, Battles Memes

Sony, the 78-year-old Japanese electronics giant, is the latest legacy megacorp to explore blockchain technology.

This week in The Protocol: Sony launches its own blockchain, slamming the brakes on memecoin trading. Bubblemaps announces plans to launch a token and a new "Intel Desk" to involve the community in driving investigations. Babylon Labs is building a trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge with the Cosmos network, paving the way for greater interoperability. Finally, U.S. prosecutors are seeking to return nearly 80% of the 119,754 bitcoins stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack to the crypto exchange. Plus, a look at how Bitcoin ETFs performed in 2024 and the growing number of U.S.-listed companies adding bitcoin to their treasuries.

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Sony embraces blockchain, battles memes

Sony, the 78-year-old Japanese electronics giant, has joined the ranks of legacy megacorps exploring blockchain technology. On Tuesday, the company announced the official launch of "Soneium," its general-purpose blockchain platform built on Optimism's OP Stack. The chain is designed to "bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 audiences, especially for the creators, fans and community,” the network team told CoinDesk's Margaux Nijkerk in a statement. Like similar general-purpose blockchains, the network is built to support a wide variety of use cases, from decentralized finance apps to entertainment and gaming services. While Sony's blockchain tech has attracted attention this week, not all the spotlight has been positive. Within the first couple of hours of Soneium's launch, some X users complained that the network was blocking memecoin trading, leading to allegations that the (ostensibly decentralized) network was "censoring" certain kinds of transactions, a major faux pas for some crypto adherents. The controversy highlighted the inherent tension between hardline blockchain ideals and traditional corporate interests. But the incident also showcased crypto's resilience: Some savvy blockchain users discovered a workaround that allowed them to "force through" transactions to the base Ethereum network, rendering moot Sony's alleged transaction-blocking. Read more.

Bubblemaps wants more crypto sleuths

Bubblemaps, the blockchain analytics service, announced on X this week that it will be launching a token, BMT, and a new "Intel Desk" that will give holders a voice in driving investigations. Bubblemaps recently introduced the V2 of its platform, which helps crypto sleuths suss out who really owns the supply of a given token. The platform sorts closely related blockchain addresses into clusters, and its easy-to-read visuals have become a common sight on crypto Twitter, where they've been used to demonstrate suspicious supply patterns among popular memecoins and DeFi tokens. Bubblemaps V2, which started rolling out to users in November, added new AI-clustering features and made it easier to examine token distributions over time. Bubblemaps' just-announced token, BMT, will be airdropped to users of the V2 platform. Holders will be given a role in the platform's "Intel Desk," where community members can propose investigations and vote on how Bubblemaps allocates in-house investigators and resources.

Babylon brings ZK momentum

Babylon Labs, developer of the largest BTC staking protocol, is building a trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge with the Cosmos network to enhance the world's oldest blockchain's interoperability. In partnership with developers Fiamma, Babylon is using the BitVM2 computing paradigm, which is designed to allow Ethereum-style smart contracts on Bitcoin, which then paves the way for zero-knowledge (ZK) technology. ZK computations allow different parties to verify that information is accurate without actually revealing to each other what the information is. In this sense, it is foundational to bridging digital assets between different blockchains. Developers like Babylon Labs and Fiamma are aiming to unlock the deep wells of value stored in BTC to finance other ecosystems and allow it to be transacted on blockchains that are free of some of Bitcoin's limitations of speed and scale. Read more.

Bitfinex: U.S. prosecutors have asked a federal judge to green-light the return of nearly 80% of the 119,754 bitcoins stolen in the 2016 hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex. In a Tuesday court filing, prosecutors said the 94,643 bitcoins recovered by the government from the original wallet used by the hacker, Ilya Lichtenstein, can be paid to Bitfinex as restitution in-kind once the court gives the go-ahead. The Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision and Bitcoin Gold generated via several hard forks following the hack will also be sent to Bitfinex. Last November, Lichtenstein was sentenced to 5 years in