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- IRC will use Soneium’s IPFi infrastructure to measure and reward fan exercise, issuing “IRC Scores” with its cell app.
- It’s going to convert these scores into membership tiers that present real-world advantages.
Tech big Sony is shifting forward with Web3 adoption in Asia as its Layer-2 blockchain platform Soneium not too long ago partnered with IRC APP, the most important idol and style competition app in Japan. Thus, IRC will now be part of Soneium’s AI-powered IPFi infrastructure, which is able to enhance international fan engagement.
Idol Runway Assortment (IRC), the most important idol and style hybrid competition of Japan, partnered with Sony’s Soneium blockchain for an on-chain fan engagement mannequin. By means of this collaboration, IRC desires to rework the way in which manufacturers have interaction with international audiences.
Apart from, the platform will leverage Sony’s IPFi infrastructure, which is able to permit it to measure and reward followers for his or her participation. IRC has efficiently examined this method inside Asia’s leisure trade. It desires to copy the identical success in Western nations as nicely!
Throughout its 2025 occasion, IRC drew roughly 11,800 attendees and 107 idol teams. For the success of this initiative, the corporate is utilizing the IRC cell app, which makes use of AI to guage fan exercise on completely different social media platforms.
Followers earn “IRC Scores” for his or her constructive engagement. The corporate then robotically distributes them to the fan wallets with none gasoline price. These scores are then later transformed into membership tiers reminiscent of Common, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Customers can use these factors on the subsequent IRC occasions to get advantages like early ticket entry, precedence entry, and premium venue invites. The system additionally allows on-chain fan voting to affect features of the 2026 occasion.
Now, via this partnership with Sony’s Soneium, IRC plans to increase this measurable fandom mannequin past idol tradition. The platform stated that it’ll discover broader artistic classes like style and anime, together with the world’s second-largest music market. The official announcement notes:
“Powered by Soneium’s infrastructure, the IRC APP creates a seamless bridge between on a regular basis fandom exercise and real-world impression at IRC. IRC APP leverages Account Abstraction (AA) to make sure the expertise is instantly accessible to customers unfamiliar with blockchain functions, whereas providing unprecedented fandom affect”.
Sony launched its Layer-2 blockchain community Soneium earlier this yr, in January 2025, and immediately obtained backing from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Moreover, Soneium has collaborated with DeFi market gamers like Uniswap for sooner market growth.
Asian Leisure Trade Seeing Sturdy Transformation
The Asian Leisure Trade is seeing a serious change. Distinguished gamers on this house, throughout Japan, South Korea, and China, are actually working with completely different Web3 tasks.
Sony’s Soneium infrastructure helps high-volume functions. Its scalable Layer-2 infrastructure helps voting, reward distribution, and group engagement. Market specialists imagine that the success of Soneium will rely on whether or not leisure corporations can construct efficient participation fashions on this infrastructure.



