Solana Ecosystem Call: March 2024 Highlights

The March 2024 Solana Ecosystem Call brought together key players in the Solana space to discuss recent developments, upcoming events, and exciting new projects. Hosted by Cash Donda, the call featured updates on the Renaissance Hackathon, Kamino's token launch, Wormhole's cross-chain innovations, and IO.net's groundbreaking AI infrastructure. This article delves into the major highlights and announcements from the call, providing insights into the thriving Solana ecosystem.

Wins of the Month

The call kicked off with a roundup of recent achievements within the Solana ecosystem, showcasing the platform's rapid growth and innovation.

Lighthouse Protocol: Protecting Users from Wallet Drains

One of the most significant developments highlighted was the launch of the Lighthouse Protocol. This free, open-source solution aims to combat the prevalent issue of wallet drains, which cost users $300 million in 2022 alone. Jacob.soul, the creator of Lighthouse, received praise for developing a tool that any developer can integrate to protect users from unauthorized wallet access.

GameShift: Revolutionizing On-Chain Gaming

Solana Labs' GameShift platform officially exited beta, marking a significant milestone for on-chain game development. GameShift offers game developers a suite of tools including fiat payouts, branded marketplaces, and embedded wallets – all at no cost. This development is expected to accelerate the growth of gaming on Solana by lowering barriers to entry for both developers and users.

Sanctum: Next-Generation Liquid Staking Tokens

Sanctum introduced a new generation of Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs), addressing the fragmentation issues in DeFi liquidity. By allowing users to easily switch between different LSTs like G-dos soul and M-soul, Sanctum is paving the way for more efficient use of staked assets in DeFi applications on Solana.

Dynamic: Enhancing User Onboarding with Web2 Options

Dynamic launched Solana embedded wallets, offering a multi-chain login experience that includes passkey support and email login options. This development aims to improve user experience by providing familiar login methods for newcomers to the crypto space, potentially accelerating adoption.

Switchboard: Solana Randomness Service

Switchboard shipped the Solana Randomness Service, tackling one of the most technically challenging problems in blockchain technology – verifiable randomness. This service is crucial for various applications including DeFi, governance, gambling, and gaming, enhancing the capabilities of developers building on Solana.

Metadow: Innovative Governance with Futarchy

Metadow officially launched, introducing a new style of governance called Futarchy to the Solana ecosystem. This market-driven approach allows participants to vote with their dollars, potentially revolutionizing how decisions are made in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

Solana Network Performance

The Solana network has seen remarkable growth in various metrics, demonstrating its increasing adoption and utility.

Revenue Growth

Solana network revenue has grown 16x in one year, with weekly revenue surging to $2.4 million. This growth is largely attributed to increased usage and priority fees. Validators are now earning a collective $150 million annually, showcasing the network's robust economic model.

Chapter Two NFT Success

The Chapter Two NFT project crossed 100,000 pre-orders, generating significant revenue with minimal fees on USDC payments. This success story highlights the efficiency of crypto payments compared to traditional credit card transactions, saving $600,000 in fees.

Backpack Exchange Milestone

Backpack Exchange, a Solana-based trading platform, crossed $1 billion in 24-hour trading volume, marking a significant achievement for the ecosystem's DeFi sector.

Boba Guys Passport Program ROI

The Boba Guys Passport loyalty program, implemented on Solana, saw an 800% ROI within its first 80 days. This success demonstrates the potential for real-world businesses to leverage blockchain technology for customer engagement and retention.

Helium Network Growth

Helium, a decentralized wireless network built on Solana, is adding about 1,000 new subscribers daily, reaching a total of 65,000 users. This growth underscores Solana's capabilities in supporting large-scale decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN).

MetaMask Integration

The Soul Flare Snap, allowing seamless login to Solana dApps using MetaMask, has been used by 320,000 people, bridging $25 million in assets. This integration is crucial for onboarding Ethereum users to the Solana ecosystem.

SDX Markets: Options Trading Revival

SDX Markets has revitalized options trading on Solana, achieving $450,000 in 24-hour volume and $6 million in total volume since December 2023. As part of their growth strategy, SDX Markets offered $100 in trading credits to 75 ecosystem call attendees.

Renaissance Hackathon Launch

Nate Levine, co-founder of Colosseum, introduced the Renaissance Hackathon, a global, online event spanning 5-6 weeks. Unlike traditional hackathons, Renaissance offers substantial prizes and the opportunity for winners to join an accelerator program backed by a venture fund.

Hackathon Format and Prizes

The hackathon features various tracks with dedicated prizes, totaling $750,000 in rewards. Winners have the chance to receive investment from Colosseum and join their accelerator program, which includes mentorship from industry leaders.

Accelerator Program

Approximately 10-15 top teams will be selected for the accelerator, receiving a $250,000 pre-seed investment. This program aims to support promising projects beyond the hackathon, helping them grow into successful companies within the Solana ecosystem.

Advice for Participants

Levine emphasized the importance of passion and long-term commitment when building projects for the hackathon. He advised participants to focus on solving real problems and to approach the hackathon as an opportunity to launch a startup rather than just a short-term project.

Kamino Token Announcement

Thomas from Kamino, a leading DeFi protocol on Solana, made several exciting announcements regarding their token launch and ecosystem growth.

Token Distribution

Kamino will complete the snapshot for their Season One points on March 31st, 2024, marking the culmination of their points system and the beginning of the Genesis distribution for the Kamino token.

Linear Distribution Model

To prevent exploitation by "Sybil farmers" – users creating multiple wallets to game the system – Kamino has opted for a linear distribution model. This approach ensures that the amount of tokens received corresponds directly to the number of points earned, eliminating advantages for those attempting to manipulate the system.

New Markets and Point Multipliers

Kamino announced the launch of new markets featuring Bonk, with a 5x point multiplier. This addition provides users with new opportunities to engage with the protocol and earn points before the snapshot.

Token Utility

The Kamino token will enable governance from day one, allowing token holders to vote on various aspects of the protocol. Over time, governance powers will expand to include revenue allocation and potentially the selection of teams to manage the protocol, aiming for full decentralization.

Wormhole Cross-Chain Innovations

Robinson Berkey, co-founder of the Wormhole Foundation, provided insights into Wormhole's role in enabling cross-chain interoperability and its recent developments.

Beyond Bridging

Berkey emphasized that Wormhole is more than just a bridge for transferring assets between chains. It functions as an interoperability layer, allowing different blockchains to communicate and share data, similar to how layer 1 and layer 2 solutions interact within a single blockchain ecosystem.

Use Cases

Wormhole enables various cross-chain applications beyond asset transfers, including:

1. Cross-chain swaps: Allowing users to exchange native assets across different blockchains seamlessly.
2. Price feeds: Partnering with Pyth to provide cross-chain oracle services.
3. Cross-chain queries: Enabling on-chain API calls to verify data across different blockchains without transferring assets.
4. Cross-chain identities: Facilitating the use of identities like ENS or .sol across multiple chains.
5. Multi-chain governance: Supporting projects as they become natively multi-chain.

Security Enhancements

Wormhole is investing heavily in zero-knowledge (ZK) technology to make bridging more trustless and secure. This approach replaces human verification with mathematical proofs, enhancing the overall security of cross-chain transactions.

Wormhole Token Launch

Berkey announced the launch of the Wormhole token, with an airdrop primarily targeting historic Wormhole users. The team plans to release more details and FAQs about eligibility in the coming days.

IO.net: AI Infrastructure Revolution

Ahmed Shadi, founder and CEO of IO.net, shared insights into their rapidly growing decentralized GPU infrastructure network, which is revolutionizing AI compute resources.

Rapid Growth

IO.net has grown from a hackathon project to a billion-dollar company in just one year. They currently have 66,000 cloud users and a Discord community of 200,000 members, showcasing explosive growth in a short period.

AI Compute Stack

IO.net focuses on providing end-to-end machine learning (ML) workloads, covering both training and inference stages. Their compute layer offers a network of GPUs accessible via a stable compute engine, primarily targeting the inference stage where 95% of AI startup costs are incurred.

Solana Integration

Shadi chose to build on Solana due to its strong community of engineers actively building during the bear market, which solidified his belief in the ecosystem's resilience and potential.

Future Plans

IO.net is preparing for their token launch at the upcoming IO Summit in 8-10 weeks. They're also expanding their GPU supply and forming partnerships with major industry players. With 500-600 AI startups in their pipeline, IO.net anticipates potential token burns of $60 million per month once these startups are onboarded.

Ecosystem Growth and Opportunities

The Solana ecosystem continues to attract attention from major players across various industries, indicating growing mainstream adoption and recognition.

Brave Browser Integration

Brave Browser now supports Solana wallets for their Basic Attention Token (BAT) rewards, allowing users to earn BAT directly to their self-custody Solana wallets. This integration exposes Solana to Brave's large user base, potentially onboarding millions of new users to the ecosystem.

Revolut Lists Bonk

Revolut, a major fintech company, has listed Bonk in a Learn and Earn campaign, aiming to onboard 500,000 new users to the Solana ecosystem. This partnership demonstrates the growing interest in Solana-based projects from traditional finance platforms.

Coca-Cola Adopts Solana for Employee Certificates

Coca-Cola is now using the All-Art protocol on Solana to issue certificates for their employees as NFTs. This adoption by a major global brand showcases the practical applications of Solana's technology in corporate environments.

Filecoin Integration

Filecoin has integrated with Solana, making it easier for explorers and indexers to access historical block data. This collaboration enhances the infrastructure supporting Solana's blockchain, improving data accessibility and analysis capabilities.

Conclusion

The March 2024 Solana Ecosystem Call highlighted the platform's rapid growth, innovative projects, and increasing adoption across various sectors. From the launch of the Renaissance Hackathon to groundbreaking developments in DeFi, cross-chain interoperability, and AI infrastructure, Solana continues to push the boundaries of blockchain technology. With major partnerships and integrations on the horizon, the Solana ecosystem is poised for further expansion and innovation in the coming months.

Facts + Figures

• Lighthouse Protocol aims to protect users from wallet drains, which cost $300 million and affected nearly 330,000 victims in 2022.
• GameShift, now out of beta, offers free tools for on-chain game developers, including fiat payouts and branded marketplaces.
• Solana network revenue has grown 16x in one year, with weekly revenue reaching $2.4 million.
• Validators on Solana are collectively earning $150 million annually.
• Chapter Two NFT project crossed 100,000 pre-orders, saving $600,000 in fees compared to credit card payments.
• Backpack Exchange crossed $1 billion in 24-hour trading volume.
• Boba Guys Passport program on Solana saw an 800% ROI in the first 80 days, with 15,000 users joining in the first 80 days.
• Helium is adding about 1,000 new subscribers daily, reaching a total of 65,000 users.
• The Soul Flare Snap for MetaMask has been used by 320,000 people, bridging $25 million in assets to Solana.
• SDX Markets achieved $450,000 in 24-hour volume and $6 million in total volume since December 2023.
• The Renaissance Hackathon offers $750,000 in prizes, with winners potentially receiving a $250,000 pre-seed investment.
• Kamino will complete its Season One points snapshot on March 31st, 2024, for token distribution.
• IO.net has grown to 66,000 cloud users and a Discord community of 200,000 members in just one year.
• IO.net anticipates potential token burns of $60 million per month once their pipeline of 500-600 AI startups is onboarded.
• Revolut aims to onboard 500,000 new users to Solana through their Bonk listing in a Learn and Earn campaign.

Questions Answered

What is the Renaissance Hackathon?

The Renaissance Hackathon is a global, online event spanning 5-6 weeks, organized by Colosseum. It offers substantial prizes totaling $750,000 and the opportunity for winners to join an accelerator program backed by a venture fund. Unlike traditional hackathons, Renaissance aims to support projects beyond the event, helping them grow into successful companies within the Solana ecosystem.

How is Kamino addressing the issue of Sybil farming in their token distribution?

Kamino is implementing a linear distribution model for their token launch to prevent exploitation by Sybil farmers. This approach ensures that the amount of tokens received corresponds directly to the number of points earned by users. By doing so, Kamino eliminates the advantage of creating multiple wallets to game the system, ensuring a fair distribution to genuine users of the protocol.

What new capabilities does Wormhole bring to the Solana ecosystem?

Wormhole functions as an interoperability layer for Solana, enabling various cross-chain applications beyond simple asset transfers. These include cross-chain swaps for seamless exchange of native assets, cross-chain price feeds in partnership with Pyth, cross-chain queries for on-chain API calls, cross-chain identities, and multi-chain governance support. Wormhole is also investing in zero-knowledge technology to enhance the security of cross-chain transactions.

How is IO.net revolutionizing AI infrastructure on Solana?

IO.net is building a decentralized GPU infrastructure network on Solana, providing end-to-end machine learning workloads for AI startups. Their platform focuses on the compute layer, offering a network of GPUs accessible via a stable compute engine. IO.net primarily targets the inference stage of AI workloads, where 95% of AI startup costs are incurred. With 66,000 cloud users and partnerships with major industry players, IO.net is rapidly scaling to meet the growing demand for AI compute resources.

What major partnerships or integrations demonstrate Solana's growing mainstream adoption?

Several recent partnerships highlight Solana's increasing mainstream adoption. Brave Browser now supports Solana wallets for BAT rewards, potentially onboarding millions of users. Revolut, a major fintech company, has listed Bonk in a Learn and Earn campaign aimed at 500,000 new users. Coca-Cola is using Solana's All-Art protocol to issue employee certificates as NFTs. Additionally, Filecoin has integrated with Solana to improve access to historical block data, enhancing the ecosystem's infrastructure.