Sony Innovation Fund invests in YOAKE entertainment, the company behind Record Protocol, to promote the blockchain integration of fans and entertainment.
YOAKE entertainment today announced the completion of a $3.2 million (approximately ¥500 million) funding round, led exclusively by Sony Innovation Fund (SIF). Furthermore, Record is deepening its collaboration with Sony Block Solutions Labs Pte. Ltd (SBSL) as a key contributor, accelerating its integration into the core IPFi (Intellectual Property Finance) infrastructure of Soneium and promoting its application and implementation across a wider range of entertainment sectors.
This important collaboration marks a key step in the integration of traditional intellectual property (IP) with blockchain and encryption technologies, and creates more development opportunities for Record as an open infrastructure for all entertainment fans.
Fan-Driven IPFi: Ushering in a New Asset Class
The value of the traditional entertainment industry primarily derives from the distribution and release of intellectual property (IP), but it often overlooks the enormous "non-monetary" contributions of fans in the social media era, such as community building, content dissemination, and the continuous amplification of cultural influence. The collective power of fans has long been unquantified and unrewarded.
Record addresses this issue by transforming fan contributions into a verifiable on-chain asset class—turning "intangible passion" into measurable demand signals. This lays the foundation for "fan-driven IPFi," in which $REC is used to financialize these verifiable contributions. This mechanism creates a new market that makes "fan capital" a liquid asset linked to IP growth, ensuring fans can share in the value they collectively create.
Unlike various "X to Earn" models, Record does not drive participation through financial incentives. Instead, it directly integrates the official IP ecosystem, relying on genuine fan enthusiasm rather than speculative behavior. This sustainable model has been validated through the IRC APP developed by YOAKE entertainment.
As the official on-chain application of "IDOL RUNWAY COLLECTION Supported by TGC (IRC)," Japan's largest idol and fashion event, the IRC APP uses generative AI to evaluate fan behavior, verifies the supported behavior on-chain through records, and rewards fans with exclusive official experiences and benefits. This model successfully achieves on-chain conversion solely based on fans' love for the IP, without relying on crypto-financial incentives.
Currently, representative Japanese idol groups that have accessed the Record ecosystem through the IRC APP include:
- AKB48: Total single sales exceed 60 million copies, with over 60 number-one singles on the Oricon charts.
- Nogizaka46: Album sales exceeded 30 million copies, and they held international tours in France, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taiwan.
- FRUITS ZIPPER: Their hit songs have garnered 3 billion views on TikTok and 64 million views on YouTube; they plan to perform at the Tokyo Dome in February 2026.
- CANDY TUNE: Her hit song has surpassed 100 million plays and has been ranked number one on the TikTok charts for nine consecutive weeks.
- CUTIE STREET: Their debut song has been streamed over 200 million times, and their total TikTok views have reached 7 billion.
These cases demonstrate that deep integration with official IPs is key to achieving large-scale fan on-chain engagement. By incentivizing fans with exclusive experiences rather than speculative rewards, Record has built a sustainable user base. Having established a scalable and verifiable data foundation, the ecosystem is moving to the next phase—extending this infrastructure to a wider range of entertainment sectors and gradually activating the economic system.
Building infrastructure for the global entertainment industry
Through this collaboration, Record is accelerating its integration into the Soneium ecosystem, becoming a core IPFi infrastructure. This partnership will drive Record's development into a universal open protocol serving the global entertainment economy.
By aligning with diverse entertainment content globally, Record is building a scalable infrastructure to empower a broader entertainment ecosystem. This collaboration also paves the way for future expansion from the idol sector to more IP vertical industries, establishing Record as a cross-industry IPFi economic standard and constructing a unified system that allows fan contributions across different media to be recorded, recognized, and rewarded.
Management's View
Kaz Hadano, CEO of Sony Ventures Corporation, said, “YOAKE entertainment is committed to bringing Japanese creativity to the world, an effort that will expand the infinite possibilities of future entertainment. We look forward to the results of their collaboration with Soneium, as well as their exploration and challenges in connecting their own IP, technology, and global fan communities to create new forms of entertainment.”
Sota Moriyama, CEO of YOAKE entertainment, stated, “Fans have always been at the heart of the entertainment economy. We are committed to exploring new forms of entertainment powered by blockchain and encryption technologies, but our goal is not to disrupt the content itself, but to upgrade the operating system behind it. Technology should be an amplifier that touches people’s hearts. Our collaboration with Sony will accelerate the realization of this vision. We are committed to making Record a universal standard on Soneium, proving that passion itself is the ultimate value.”
About Record
Record is a trusted and neutral infrastructure that makes fan contributions quantifiable, verifiable, and valuable, laying the foundation for a fan-driven IPFi ecosystem. Currently under private development, its future goal is to become an open-source protocol for all forms of IP and fan contributions.
About YOAKE entertainment
YOAKE entertainment is a technology entertainment company jointly founded by ASOBISYSTEM, TWIN PLANET, W TOKYO, and Y&N Brothers, and has received investment from the Sony Group. The company's IRC app is driving the application and implementation of Record Protocol in real-world scenarios.
