With SOPH set to launch on Binance, Sophon further promotes a Web3 consumption application ecosystem aimed at ordinary users, covering scenarios such as gaming, social interaction, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets.

Written by: Inception Capital

Sophon is a Validium Layer 2 network built on the zkSync Elastic Chain, dedicated to creating a Web3 consumption application ecosystem for ordinary users, covering scenarios such as gaming, social interaction, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets.

Binance Alpha will launch and open trading for Sophon (SOPH) on May 28, 2025, at 21:00 (UTC+8). Additionally, the Binance contract platform will launch the SOPHUSDT perpetual contract on May 28, 2025, at 21:30 (UTC+8).

Inception was fortunate to participate in the early investment of Sophon in 2024. While congratulating Sophon on its upcoming launch on Binance, we also hope to take this opportunity to share the reasoning behind Inception's decision to invest in this project in 2023-2024.

1. The Connection Between Inception and Sophon:

Inception Capital, as an early-stage investment institution focused on blockchain and cutting-edge technology, has always paid attention to the composability and user growth potential of blockchain games and virtual worlds. Inception Capital previously invested early in Beam (formerly Merit Circle), a decentralized DAO gaming guild built on Ethereum and BSC. Its founder, Mark Borsten, is an experienced gamer with many years of background in crypto investment.

During our discussions with Mark, we greatly appreciated his unique understanding of gaming experiences and on-chain architecture. Therefore, in 2023, when we learned that Beam was also beginning to incubate Sophon, a high-performance public chain designed for gaming and AI scenarios, we started engaging with Sophon. At the early stage when the product was not yet formed, the token mechanism unverified, and the user base yet to be established, the team's judgment became key to our investment decision. Especially in the gaming sector, successful teams are often deep participants in the gaming community, with a profound understanding of user behavior and cultural atmosphere.

2. Why Do We Need Public Chains Focused on Gaming/Entertainment?

Sophon is not a fanciful new public chain but rather an infrastructure upgrade plan incubated internally by Beam: Beam itself already has over 100 gaming projects. However, in the long run, "every game having its own chain" is not realistic—they need a chain that serves the entire gaming ecosystem, providing a unified entry point and underlying protocol.

However, in the gaming/entertainment sectors, most mainstream chains have inherent limitations and have not truly addressed specific characteristics of user communities, such as:

• Ethereum Mainnet: While it provides security guarantees, high gas costs and low TPS are not suitable for real-time gaming scenarios.
• Solana: Despite its strong performance, its ecosystem is more focused on trading and memecoins, lacking an incentive system aimed at gaming users.
• General L2s like OP/Arbitrum: Solid infrastructure, but "gaming" is just a small branch of their ecosystem.

This is precisely why, despite significant industry investment and continuous technological innovation, cryptocurrencies remain limited to niche markets. Sophon fundamentally addresses these popularization challenges, with its core philosophy focusing on the real needs of gaming and broader entertainment consumption users.

As Sophon founder Seb (former zkSync DeFi head) stated, "We should not continue to force users to adapt to the complexity of blockchain; instead, we should present the value of blockchain through scenarios that users are already familiar with, such as gaming, ticketing, and social interaction, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of on-chain technology 'unconsciously.'" This philosophy aligns closely with Inception's vision of promoting the large-scale adoption of blockchain. We believe that in the future, when users are immersed in entertainment, social interaction, or AI interactions, the complex technology of blockchain will have already become invisible in the background.

3. Forward-looking Technical Architecture

Sophon has achieved significant breakthroughs in technology, aiming to reshape the user experience of blockchain. It adopts the ZK Stack combined with Validium architecture, migrating most transaction processing off-chain, allowing users to almost completely disregard gas costs, significantly lowering the usage threshold. Additionally, Sophon supports native account abstraction, allowing users to log in directly with their Google accounts, with smart contracts automatically managing private keys, effectively eliminating the usage barriers posed by mnemonic phrases. Furthermore, the platform employs a batch verification mechanism using zero-knowledge proofs, greatly reducing transaction confirmation times, making the experience close to traditional Web2 payments. This series of technical designs not only focuses on performance optimization but also aims to create a blockchain usage experience that is more convenient and intuitive than Web2.

4. Current Development

In May of this year, Sophon launched its latest zkTLS "Social Oracle" system, allowing users to chain achievements and social data from Web2 platforms like Spotify and Steam while protecting privacy, creating a more personalized on-chain identity system. As of May 2025, the market capitalization of Sophon's native token SOPH reached $32.39 million, with a circulation of 32.89 billion tokens. It has been listed on exchanges such as MEXC, KuCoin, and Bitget, and will launch on Binance for spot and perpetual contract trading on May 28. Sophon is building a Web3 entertainment ecosystem covering gaming, social interaction, ticketing, and AI, aiming to achieve a mainstream vision of "invisible technology, visible value."

We greatly admire the Sophon team's commitment to long-termism and their exploration and innovation regarding the combination of Web 2 and Web 3, believing that Sophon will work hand in hand with the community to create a prosperous and sustainable innovative ecosystem that benefits creators and users. As one of the few Asian funds still active during the industry bear market, we also hope to collaborate with more founders who share the same vision.

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