Sony’s blockchain, Soneium Layer 2, has achieved a significant breakthrough in transaction speed, reducing finality time by over 98%. This acceleration is thanks to a new partnership between Astar, AltLayer, and EigenLayer that launched a “Fast Finality Layer” for Soneium. Finality refers to the point when a transaction becomes irreversible on the blockchain, and Soneium’s has dropped from 15 minutes to under 10 seconds thanks to this innovative solution. The improvement relies on a decentralized validator network secured by restaked ETH and Astar’s ASTR tokens, minimizing reliance on centralized sequencers and bolstering cross-chain security. This update puts Soneium among the fastest Layer 2 blockchains. Other solutions like Arbitrum One and Coinbase’s Base, which are both optimistic rollups, typically have finality times around one minute.