The Astar x Sony Web3 Incubation Program Candidates: Round 2

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Astar Network

6 min readApr 20, 2023

Recently, Astar and Sony Network Communications announced the winning candidates of the Web3 Incubation Program. As the program runs its course, we will be releasing a series of articles highlighting the features and practical solutions being offered by each of them, so our community can learn more about they’re doing, and what made them stand out among nearly 200 other amazing projects!

With that being said, we are delighted to highlight the next four of nineteen exceptional candidates being recognized for their innovative approaches to revolutionize various industries within the Web3 ecosystem. These groundbreaking projects are set to empower users, enhance digital experiences, and promote the adoption of more widespread decentralized technology by providing Infrastructure and other services.

Acurast (Oracle)

Acurast interconnects worlds such as Web2, Web3, AI or IoT through its Universal Interoperability layer. Giving projects a way to get seamless access to Web2, other Web3 ecosystems and even to AI or IoT.

“We are very excited to get the opportunity to collaborate with Astar and Sony Network Communications through this program. Diving deeper into the enterprise use cases for Acurast and simultaneously being able to expand to the Astar community.” Pascal Brun, Co-Founder Acurast

The Acurast Universe is a platform and protocol designed to enable Web3 projects and enterprises to realize the full potential of Web3. This is accomplished by building new and improved use cases that are empowered by a universe of interconnected worlds. Focusing on the value propositions of a decentralized ethos with trustlessness, interoperability and self-service at the core of Acurast.

Acurast allows anyone to start providing computing infrastructure through Android mobile devices and earn rewards from developers utilizing these for their use cases.

Through the Acurast Marketplace, anyone requiring computational resources for interoperability between worlds can request them in a completely self-service fashion.

Meson Network (Bandwidth as a Service)

Meson Network is a bandwidth and IP trading platform built on blockchain technology with the mission of creating the largest bandwidth and IP marketplace to accelerate internet decentralization and serve the underserved market. The platform aims to address the problems of bandwidth waste, data security, and the need to reach the long-tail market at a low cost.

Many individuals and businesses overestimate the resources they need and end up paying for cloud services that are underutilized. Additionally, centralized service providers cannot completely guarantee data privacy. Meson Network’s decentralized architecture ensures better privacy protection for users. The platform focuses on the sinking market, using Meson tokens to incentivize people to provide idle bandwidth. This lowers the threshold for miners and reduces CDN costs for SMEs.

Meson Network offers fully decentralized and highly anonymous dCDN and IP address services, leveraging its extensive IP pool and total bandwidth. As a leading project in the POW vertical, the network has approximately 30,000 global nodes for the bandwidth marketplace and an additional 100,000 global nodes for the IP marketplace, with continued growth.

Snickerdoodle Labs (Data Wallet & Marketing Platform)

Snickerdoodle Labs is a transformational data company that is creating a more equitable and rewarding relationship between people and brands by unlocking the value of data. The Snickerdoodle Marketing Platform and associated Data Wallet empowers people to monetize their data and gives brands a way to get consumer insights directly from their customers. We solve critical issues in Web 3 that range from customer attribution to how non-custodial wallets generate revenue and we do it all with a privacy-first approach.

“At Snickerdoodle Labs, we’re redefining data relationships between consumers and brands with our two products, the Snickerdoodle Data Wallet and Marketing Platform. By prioritizing privacy, consent, and empowering individuals to monetize their data, we’re building trust and forging authentic connections in the Web 3 era, creating a more equitable data ecosystem for all.” Jonathan Padilla, CEO and Co-Founder of Snickerdoodle Labs

The web2 status quo digital value exchange is no longer efficient — that is: free information in exchange for personal data. Consumers are savvier than ever, and expect greater incentives for sharing their information. With the dawn of a decentralized internet — and the fall of traditional data cookies — the power dynamic is shifting towards consumers who expect greater incentives for sharing their information. Consumers who traditionally have had little control over their personal data, now have options to choose when, where, how, and with whom to share their data. With Snickerdoodle, consumers are empowered instead of exploited, with the ability to monetize their data in exchange for rewards.

With Snickerdoodle, brands can capitalize and are empowered to build a direct relationship with their consumers — without the need for intermediaries. Snickerdoodle is offering the ability to utilize web3 as an emerging touchpoint in their omnichannel marketing strategy. This new engagement channel can help marketers understand new buying behavior and digital interactions, especially when it comes to blockchain wallet data.

Snickerdoodle enables privacy-protected, consent-driven interactions online, ultimately facilitating more meaningful interactions and greater trust between brands and consumers.

Purple Pay (DID & KYC)

Purple Pay is a regulatory-compliant and privacy-enabled crypto payment protocol with the mission of making transactions truly borderless. The current challenges in cross-border money movement involve high settlement times, increased costs, intermediaries, and regulatory complexities. This results in transactions taking up to 7% and around 10 days to settle in emerging markets.

“It takes a second to send a message across the globe, then why does it take so long to process money transfers? We want money movement to flow like it was water- seamless, without any barriers, while being fully compliant.” Saumya Saxena, Purple Pay Founder

Purple Pay addresses these issues by developing a KYC-compliant protocol using ZK-enabled decentralized identity, which adheres to global anti-money laundering regulations. By leveraging the benefits of blockchain technology, such as data availability, speed, and cost, Purple Pay aims to simplify capital movement and reduce costs and settlement times by 90%.

The company is currently running a proof of concept with a Dubai-based fund to test its regulatory-compliant crypto payment rails.

Wrapping it all up: Pioneering the Future of Web3

As the Astar x Sony Web3 Incubation Program progresses, we are thrilled to witness the continued growth and development of these groundbreaking projects. Acurast, Meson Network, Snickerdoodle Labs, and Purple Pay each bring unique and innovative solutions to the table, addressing critical issues in the Web3 ecosystem and pushing the boundaries of digital experiences.

Our candidates demonstrate the immense potential of Web3 technology to transform industries, empower users, and promote decentralized solutions in various sectors. By driving advancements in interoperability, bandwidth, data monetization, and cross-border payments, these projects are reshaping the digital landscape and setting the stage for a more inclusive and decentralized future.

As we continue to showcase the remaining candidates in the coming weeks, we invite our audience to explore the opportunities presented by these projects, and to consider the ways in which embracing Web3 technologies can benefit both businesses and consumers alike. The Astar x Sony Web3 Incubation Program serves as a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation, and we eagerly anticipate the continued evolution of the Web3 ecosystem through the work of these projects.

About Astar Network

The Future of Multichain Smart Contracts.

Astar is Japan’s most popular smart contract platform supporting both EVM and WebAssembly (Wasm) environments, and interoperability between them using a Cross-Virtual Machine. Astar Network is friendly to all kinds of developers, and the tools and languages they already know. Backed by the shared security of Polkadot, Astar shines brilliantly on its own within a vibrant and healthy ecosystem, and in the blockchain industry overall driving international corporate adoption, and consumer interest in Web3 technologies.

Astar’s Build2Earn system is designed to grow the network in an innovative way, while simultaneously rewarding participants and builders. It allows developers to earn incentives for building and maintaining their decentralized applications, and users to earn incentives for supporting their favorite projects, all while encouraging growth of the ecosystem overall.