Introduction

This September Community Call—moderated by Carlos with G. (Astar marketing/ecosystem), Tatsu (Consumer & Gaming BD, Startale), and Alicia (Astar marketing)—lined up the updates that matter for the coming months.

We started on the technical track: how runtime upgrades work and why the final removal of the Sudo key marks a move to fully on‑chain governance, while preserving rapid response options (pause/maintenance) for emergencies. Next, the paradigm shift with Agile Coretime: farewell to 24‑month lease auctions, welcome to monthly capacity; three cores are already secured, auto‑renewal is coming, and costs have dropped sharply.

On the community/adoption side, we revisited the Mix & Mingle at Sony City during WebX Tokyo—a strong signal on the consumer/gaming push—and introduced the Soneium For All winners integrating $ASTR as a payment method (with live cases like Zombie Idle Defense and Lootcoin). Finally, practical updates on governance (roles, flows, numbers, and how to participate: endorsements, conviction voting, delegation) and on dApp Staking, which is expanding beyond Astar to include quality builders on Soneium/Ethereum/Polkadot—as long as they bring real utility to $ASTR.

TL;DRRuntime & Sudo: key removed; next steps with Asset Hub.Coretime: three months already purchased; auto‑renewal and lower costs.Adoption: Sony City & SFA drive real $ASTR use cases.Governance & dApp Staking: high activity and widening scope.

What’s new

• R‑1700 (Aug 2025): emergency response tools, advanced governance modules, groundwork for Asset Hub.

• R‑1601 (Jun 2025): staking calculation fixes, Democracy migration, PoV and EVM updates.

• R‑1501 (May 2025): staking thresholds fixed, Polkadot uplift, XCM v5, prep for EVM Cancun.

• Next runtime: focus on Asset Hub Migration, Astar Portal updates, and full protocol decentralization.

**Process (as explained by Gaius)**Runtimes are initiated by Startale’s L1 engineering team, tested on Shibuya/Shiden, then move to Main Council motion, Tech Committee fast‑track, on‑chain vote, and enactment.

SudoThe Sudo key has been removed. The final step (removing the Sudo pallet) is planned alongside the Asset Hub Migration (Q4 2025, sched.).

“From biennial auctions to monthly cores: three months covered, auto‑renewal with priority, and costs dropping to ~10 DOT.” — Gaius

What it isSwitching to Agile Coretime lets Astar buy capacity month by month (the Polkadot 2.0 vision), increasing flexibility and lowering operational risk.

Current statusThree months of coretime are secured: the first at about ~550 DOT (market spike), the next ones at tens of DOT, down to ~10 DOT. Auto‑renewal is coming to ensure continuity without downtime.

Why it mattersSustainability: the AFC funds the sovereign account with DOT; recurring infra costs do not require selling $ASTR/treasuries.

Numbers & vibeAbout 400 registrations, 130–140 attendees—strong turnout despite the distance from WebX’s main venue. Atmosphere: high energy & engagement.

Panel themesMass adoption, the Astar ↔ Startale ↔ Sony relationship, and consumer/gaming tracks (moderated by Tatsu).

Community touchCustom merch by Alicia: “Astar Drift” t‑shirt and Tokyo subway‑ticket style sticker.

What SFA isA consumer & gaming incubation program hosted by Soneium (with Sony Blockchain Solutions Labs support) and Startale Cloud as a technical partner.

**Integrating $ASTR (payments > rewards)**Out of 11 overall winners, 6 integrate $ASTR as a payment method: live cases include Zombie Idle Defense (items purchasable with $ASTR) and Lootcoin; integrations coming for Spekter, Tubbly, Harkan, Animix.

Why it mattersUsing $ASTR to buy (not just as a reward) creates real utility and healthier demand.

How it worksGov v1 setup: Main Council, Community Council, Technical Committee. Public proposals enter a queue with endorsements; referenda last ~7 days; motions provide a fast lane for urgent items.

TreasuryRoughly ~300M $ASTR on‑chain. Main Council can approve up to 1M $ASTR; above that, a public referendum is required. In < 1 year: ~43 motions and ~43 referenda → governance is very active.

How to participateWith $ASTR you can propose, endorse, vote with conviction, or delegate to trusted representatives—tokens stay in your wallet.

DirectionThe program keeps expanding in both quantity and quality (e.g., Bifrost, SoneFi, Kyo Finance). Goal: welcome builders also on Soneium/Ethereum/Polkadot, provided they bring concrete utility for $ASTR.

ImpactFor holders: more allocation options and impact. For builders: a steady channel of support and engagement with the community.

A maturing governance, a more flexible infrastructure (Agile Coretime), tangible consumer/gaming momentum (Sony City & SFA), and multi‑ecosystem dApp Staking. The common goal: strengthen the technical core and ignite real $ASTR use cases.

Introduction

This September Community Call—moderated by Carlos with G. (Astar marketing/ecosystem), Tatsu (Consumer & Gaming BD, Startale), and Alicia (Astar marketing)—lined up the updates that matter for the coming months.

We started on the technical track: how runtime upgrades work and why the final removal of the Sudo key marks a move to fully on‑chain governance, while preserving rapid response options (pause/maintenance) for emergencies. Next, the paradigm shift with Agile Coretime: farewell to 24‑month lease auctions, welcome to monthly capacity; three cores are already secured, auto‑renewal is coming, and costs have dropped sharply.

On the community/adoption side, we revisited the Mix & Mingle at Sony City during WebX Tokyo—a strong signal on the consumer/gaming push—and introduced the Soneium For All winners integrating $ASTR as a payment method (with live cases like Zombie Idle Defense and Lootcoin). Finally, practical updates on governance (roles, flows, numbers, and how to participate: endorsements, conviction voting, delegation) and on dApp Staking, which is expanding beyond Astar to include quality builders on Soneium/Ethereum/Polkadot—as long as they bring real utility to $ASTR.

TL;DRRuntime & Sudo: key removed; next steps with Asset Hub.Coretime: three months already purchased; auto‑renewal and lower costs.Adoption: Sony City & SFA drive real $ASTR use cases.Governance & dApp Staking: high activity and widening scope.

What’s new

• R‑1700 (Aug 2025): emergency response tools, advanced governance modules, groundwork for Asset Hub.

• R‑1601 (Jun 2025): staking calculation fixes, Democracy migration, PoV and EVM updates.

• R‑1501 (May 2025): staking thresholds fixed, Polkadot uplift, XCM v5, prep for EVM Cancun.

• Next runtime: focus on Asset Hub Migration, Astar Portal updates, and full protocol decentralization.

**Process (as explained by Gaius)**Runtimes are initiated by Startale’s L1 engineering team, tested on Shibuya/Shiden, then move to Main Council motion, Tech Committee fast‑track, on‑chain vote, and enactment.

SudoThe Sudo key has been removed. The final step (removing the Sudo pallet) is planned alongside the Asset Hub Migration (Q4 2025, sched.).

“From biennial auctions to monthly cores: three months covered, auto‑renewal with priority, and costs dropping to ~10 DOT.” — Gaius

What it isSwitching to Agile Coretime lets Astar buy capacity month by month (the Polkadot 2.0 vision), increasing flexibility and lowering operational risk.

Current statusThree months of coretime are secured: the first at about ~550 DOT (market spike), the next ones at tens of DOT, down to ~10 DOT. Auto‑renewal is coming to ensure continuity without downtime.

Why it mattersSustainability: the AFC funds the sovereign account with DOT; recurring infra costs do not require selling $ASTR/treasuries.

Numbers & vibeAbout 400 registrations, 130–140 attendees—strong turnout despite the distance from WebX’s main venue. Atmosphere: high energy & engagement.

Panel themesMass adoption, the Astar ↔ Startale ↔ Sony relationship, and consumer/gaming tracks (moderated by Tatsu).

Community touchCustom merch by Alicia: “Astar Drift” t‑shirt and Tokyo subway‑ticket style sticker.

What SFA isA consumer & gaming incubation program hosted by Soneium (with Sony Blockchain Solutions Labs support) and Startale Cloud as a technical partner.

**Integrating $ASTR (payments > rewards)**Out of 11 overall winners, 6 integrate $ASTR as a payment method: live cases include Zombie Idle Defense (items purchasable with $ASTR) and Lootcoin; integrations coming for Spekter, Tubbly, Harkan, Animix.

Why it mattersUsing $ASTR to buy (not just as a reward) creates real utility and healthier demand.

How it worksGov v1 setup: Main Council, Community Council, Technical Committee. Public proposals enter a queue with endorsements; referenda last ~7 days; motions provide a fast lane for urgent items.

TreasuryRoughly ~300M $ASTR on‑chain. Main Council can approve up to 1M $ASTR; above that, a public referendum is required. In < 1 year: ~43 motions and ~43 referenda → governance is very active.

How to participateWith $ASTR you can propose, endorse, vote with conviction, or delegate to trusted representatives—tokens stay in your wallet.

DirectionThe program keeps expanding in both quantity and quality (e.g., Bifrost, SoneFi, Kyo Finance). Goal: welcome builders also on Soneium/Ethereum/Polkadot, provided they bring concrete utility for $ASTR.

ImpactFor holders: more allocation options and impact. For builders: a steady channel of support and engagement with the community.

A maturing governance, a more flexible infrastructure (Agile Coretime), tangible consumer/gaming momentum (Sony City & SFA), and multi‑ecosystem dApp Staking. The common goal: strengthen the technical core and ignite real $ASTR use cases.