DeFi Leader Aave Debuts on Sony-Backed Soneium Blockchain

Decentralized finance (DeFi) firm Aave is arriving on Soneium, the Ethereum L2 blockchain linked to Japanese electronics giant Sony, the companies said on Tuesday.

Decentralized finance, which shot to prominence during the so-called “DeFi summer” of 2020, is resurgent, amid a huge growth in stablecoins and crypto-backed lending. The integration of GHO, Aave’s decentralized overcollateralized stablecoin, into Sonieum is being explored for real-world use cases in payments, savings, and digital commerce, according to a press release.

Soneium’s 7-million user ecosystem already includes Uniswap v4, Velodrome, Stargate, Lido, and native protocols like Kyo Finance and SuperVol.

“Aave wants to be where consumers are, in trusted, accessible environments,” said Aave Labs Founder Stani Kulechov in a statement. “Sony’s global reputation and Soneium’s focus on consumer-facing applications make this a unique opportunity for Aave to reach new mainstream users.”

The partnering will include Aave’s participation in upcoming liquidity incentive campaigns, including with the Astar, a blockchain prominent in the Japanese Web3 ecosystem, and a 100 million ASTR allocation (currently valued at $4M) to bootstrap adoption, according to a press release.

Soneium, which this week announced a new gaming incubator to help drive more traffic to the blockchain, is developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, a joint venture between Sony Group and Startale Group.