Solana just got more interesting

Updates

Solana Accelerate: Key Takeaways

Solana Accelerate happened this past week, and there were a ton of news across the Solana ecosystem.

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You could watch all the talks here on Solana's YouTube channel. But if you want the 80/20 without suffering through hours of footage, we got you covered.

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#1. Solana Mobile

Back in 2023, Solana launched its first smartphone, Saga.

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It was a hit. Not just because of the phone itself, but because buyers received airdropped memecoins like $BONK that basically paid for the phone.

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Seeker is their second phone. And the conference had many announcements relating to the phone.

• The mobile ecosystem will have a token: $SKR
• International shipping starts on August 4th. Pre-orders have already crossed >150k units
• Additional features like SeekerID, the SeedVault Wallet, and an improved Solana Dapp Store
• Built on a powerful new architecture called TEEPIN (Trusted Execution Environment Platform Infrastructure Network)

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A token is a big deal. Full details on its distribution and utility aren't out yet. But it'll be used to promote user and developer adoption of the Mobile Platform.

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$SKR will be part of the TEEPIN architecture as well. The new architecture can be compared to iOS of Apple phone or Android from Google.

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You can learn more about the phone here.

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#2. Alpenglow Upgrade

Solana is already the leading L1 with fast transactions.

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However, there's one tinnnyyyy problem. Transaction finality is when a transaction can't be changed on a blockchain. Today on Solana, it still takes 12.8 seconds. With the new upgrade, Solana will give finality within 150-200 ms. That's a ~100x improvement.

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There are many more technical improvements like removing legacy components and taking consensus activities like voting off-chain. Theoretically, these will improve validator economics as well.

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The new upgrade is expected to roll out in the next year, but it's already generating buzz.

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#3. Fluid & Jupiter Partnership

Fluid is an innovative DeFi protocol that’s been crushing it on Ethereum by blending DEX and lending into a single platform. Now, they’re bringing that magic to Solana.

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But instead of starting from scratch, they're partnering with Jupiter, Solana's top DeFi protocol.

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The lending protocol on Solana will be called Jupiter Lend. But the value will accrue to $FLUID token as well.

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And by the looks of it, Jupiter Lend seems poised to be a massive success. >2.2M wallets have already registered to try out Jupiter Lend. In contrast, there are only ~6k open positions on Fluid on Ethereum.

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#4. Farcaster adds Solana support.

Farcaster is a web3 social platform. It was seen as an Ethereum-aligned because they built on ETH & many ETH OGs had shifted to the platform.

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Now, they've added support for Solana.

• Users can access Farcaster & its mini-app ecosystem using a SOL address.
• Solana devs can now create Farcaster mini-apps. More tooling is being developed.

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​Airdrops & campaigns to accelerate Solana-powered miniapps are here as well.

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#5. Kraken's Tokenized Equities

Kraken has announced it'll launch tokenized US Equities on Solana. They're doing this in partnership with Backed Finance.

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Their Solana launch is interesting because they have their own L2, Ink. And they haven't announced they'll launch it on the L2. The failure of the L2 to gain traction is definitely part of the reason. It also highlights that teams that want to attract users prefer to launch on Solana.

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There have been many other big announcements as well.

• Solana Attestation Service
• Dogecoin expanded to Solana using Wormhole.
• Ledger released a hardware wallet designed for Solana.
• Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) went live on Solana.
• Play Solana is a gaming ecosystem on Solana. They released designs of PSG1, a gaming device.

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There have been a lot more talks and announcements. But I've covered the most important ones.

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If you want the full experience, you can watch all the talks on YouTube.

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Sponsored by Stacks​

SIP-031: New Stacks BTCfi Catalyst

Some things need a spark to realize their full potential.

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A race car, tuned to perfection, still needs fuel & ignition. A rocket, perfectly engineered, won’t leave Earth without thrust.

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The Stacks ecosystem is such a structure: a rock-solid foundation and an exciting roadmap. But there was a key missing ingredient.

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Now, with SIP-031, Stacks has its catalyst.

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What is Stacks? It is the leading Bitcoin Layer 2 (L2).

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It is designed to bring full smart contract functionality and scalable apps to Bitcoin without compromising its security. Unlike general-purpose L1 chains, Stacks leverages Bitcoin's security while unlocking DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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Stacks has the foundations to be a top 10 ecosystem. It has laid the groundwork over the years.

• Nakamoto Upgrade: It brought increased transaction throughput and 100% Bitcoin finality.
• sBTC: A trust-minimized, synthetic Bitcoin on Stacks. It enables direct use of BTC in Stacks smart contracts.
• STX is the first SEC-qualified Reg A token, a rare stamp of legitimacy in a largely scam-token world.

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And now, their new roadmap is taking it to the next level.

• Fast block times
• Wasm-based smart contracts
• Fee abstraction for a smoother user experience
• And more.

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They also have a DeFi growth strategy to accelerate BTCfi.

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The Stacks ecosystem is maturing: vaults, perps, lending markets, stablecoins, and more are coming. The missing piece was a sustainable fuel source to attract builders and users.

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Enter SIP-031: The Tokenomics Catalyst

The newly proposed SIP-031 introduces exactly what was missing: a new $STX endowment to build a longer-term treasury and accelerate the ecosystem.

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A new treasury funded through a combination of transfers from existing entities and new emissions over the next 5 years that temporarily bring Stacks’ total annual emissions from 3.52% to an average of 5.75% per year, a conservative inflation model by industry standards. The median inflation rate of the top 50 projects is 10.18%, as seen in this table.

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Every ecosystem faces the cold start problem. The attractiveness of an ecosystem is based on its network effects. Without a large existing base of users, builders, and liquidity, boosting the ecosystem growth is difficult.

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BTCfi is a unique opportunity. ~65% of the total crypto market value is in BTC. Still, its usage in DeFi is limited. The first ecosystem to unlock the functionality properly will have a massive market.

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And Stacks is already a leader in BTCfi. With the new proposal, Stacks can kickstart serious BTCfi activity. It can build flywheels that accelerates it's pole position in BTCfi.

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Here's how the new tokens will be allocated:

• 10% is going to operations & staff. It includes costs for stuff like custody, compliance & legal fees, recurring platform subscriptions, financial reporting, and general operating expenses.
• Engineering and security will receive 12%. This is the core of any crypto ecosystem. With Stacks, you need the core blockchain & sBTC to be built securely.
• Working capital will be 27%. This wouldn't be spent permanently. Instead, it'll be used to provide liquidity and deploy in Stacks projects. This will help in attracting builders to the ecosystem.
• 20% for growth or marketing. Like it or not, crypto is not driven by fundamentals. Projects have to attract attention. This budget will continue the efforts that made Stacks the 7 fastest-growing developer ecosystem.
• 31% for bootstrapping network growth flywheel. As I explained earlier, bootstrapping growth flywheels is really hard. This fund will be used for user incentives, business development for key integrations & partnerships, and M&A.

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Additionally, the SIP also consolidates fragmented execution efforts into a streamlined new entity: Stacks Labs. By absorbing roles and operations from Hiro, Bitcoin L2 Labs, and others, Stacks Labs ensures:

• Faster execution
• Lower operational friction
• Focused builder support

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Consider Solana vs Ethereum: while Ethereum leaned heavily on decentralization with multiple independent orgs, Solana’s lean foundation enabled rapid iteration, effective messaging, and better early-stage coordination. Stacks is taking a page from that book.

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At the end of the day, the new tokens will grow the ecosystem. 60 %+ of the endowment is going to directly support builders.

• User incentives for DeFi apps.
• Liquidity provisioning to deepen DEX pools.
• Token marketing, like other projects in crypto.
• Business development funds for integrations (bridges, fiat ramps, oracles)
• Sophisticated market-making activities, including supply management with token buybacks and options.

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Other ecosystems, like Avalanche, NEAR, and Sui, had explosive ecosystem growth after launching similar funds. Stacks aims to replicate those successes.

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Now, if you've been in crypto for any length of time, you'll view everything with a skeptical eye. So naturally, you'll raise an eyebrow when additional emissions in $STX are going to be introduced.

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But this isn't a blind money printer. It's designed with responsible tokenomics.

• Total inflation stays below the industry median (~10%).
• The treasury will be transparent onchain. They'll also publish annual public reports.
• The new funds won't be used for voting. So the governance will be with the current community only.

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Ultimately, the token won't be dumped, it'll be tactically deployed. In the long term, it's beneficial to the ecosystem.

• More incentives → more users & apps
• More apps → more protocol revenue & STX demand
• More demand → flywheel gains

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With SIP-031, a flywheel of liquidity, incentives, integrations, and builder support will come online. It won't be just a Bitcoin L2, it can become the financial layer of Bitcoin. It can drive the next wave of BTC-native yield and TVL growth.

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Users and builders who show up now, before everyone floods in, stand to gain the most from this.
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