# Sony Europe joins Theta blockchain validator program

Sony’s European subsidiary is the latest company to join the validator program of the Theta Network, a decentralized blockchain-based video protocol.

Sony Europe’s research and development group, the Center Europe Brussels Laboratory, has joined Theta’s enterprise validator and governance council program, the company announced Tuesday.

As part of the development, Sony will operate an enterprise validator node located in Europe to validate network transactions on Theta’s proof-of-stake consensus protocol. Sony Europe will also act as a member of the governance council to participate in strategic technology planning and ensure the network’s security and stability.

The validator program includes major technology firms like Google and Samsung, as well as industry firms like Binance, Blockchain.com and Gumi. Theta Labs CEO Mitch Liu told Cointelegraph:

“Theta Network is quickly moving towards full decentralization with 14 enterprise validators, of which seven are run by Theta Labs and with Sony Europe being our seventh external validator marks an important milestone for the project.”

Theta expects deeper strategic collaboration in distributed ledger technology development with Sony in areas like decentralized finance and nonfungible tokens, Liu said.

A spokesperson for Sony Group told Cointelegraph that the company remains engaged in exploring potential applications for blockchain in diverse areas including authentication and digital content. Sony is also working on digital currency hardware wallet technology using IC cards.

A subsidiary of major virtual reality livestreaming company Sliver.tv, Theta Labs was founded in 2017. The Theta protocol’s native token, THETA, has seen some significant growth recently, hitting new all-time highs and even outperforming Bitcoin’s (BTC) late-2020 rally.