Sony's Soneium blockchain faces backlash over alleged blacklisting of memecoins on launch day

The developers of Sony’s Layer 2 blockchain, Soneium, have sparked controversy due to their alleged action of blacklisting a few memecoins for infringing on intellectual property rights.

This action, reported to have occurred on the network’s launch day, apparently resulted in some tokens being restricted, making them unsupported on the network

This has caused frustration among some users, as expressed in several posts on X, showing their sudden inability to trade or access these memecoins on the Soneium network and the block explorer.

The blacklisting specifically targets tokens that mimic or use branding which Sony or Soneium deems protected, and their activities have been restricted on the network. As a result, the trading of these memecoins has been reportedly impacted. Users attempting to access these tokens receive a forbidden alert on Soneium’s official block explorer.

The situation escalated with remarks from the pseudonymous founder of pump.fun, Alon, who criticized the platform for “actively blacklisting memecoins they don’t like, instantly nuking everyone’s position to 0.”

Others raised questions about the level of control that blockchain developers should exercise and the balance between protecting intellectual property and maintaining a permissionless network.

Furthermore, the founder of Time.fun, who goes by Kawz, claimed that the blacklisting had affected users’ funds. The tokens on the blacklist were restricted at the RPC level, rendering them technically inaccessible for the moment. “Soneium rugged users >$100k in ETH on launch day. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Kawz remarked. He added at least two tokens have been blacklisted so far.

One such project is a newly launched memecoin named “Aibo,” named after a series of robotic dogs made by Sony and valued at around $700,000, according to DexScreener.

Its developers say they are working with Soneium to resolve the issue swiftly and may introduce a new logo.

Sony Block Solutions Labs, the Singapore-based blockchain subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate, launched Soneium earlier today.

In its announcement, the Soneium developers emphasized enforcing intellectual property rights for creators and fans.

“Our documentation outlines how we safeguard IP rights and combat malicious activities - all while keeping web3’s core values of openness and innovation intact,” Soneium said in response to the controversy.