Cloudflare On Solana, New Solana Node Client Comes Out Of Stealth & More

Welcome back!

This is J264G and this week I’ve got these titbits for you:

• Cloudflare Rivalry: Pipe Network to build a Solana-based CDN.

• Home Verification: Mithril makes home verification possible on Solana.

• SVM Proliferation: Atlas, a Layer 2 that settles to Ethereum, is announced.

This week, Singapore takes center stage by hosting both TOKEN2049 and Breakpoint. The city-state's continuing embrace of crypto demonstrates its commitment to showcasing the tangible, real-world applications of blockchain technology — much to the disbelief of skeptics.

Now, let’s jump right into this week’s newsletter!

Click on any underlined heading/hyperlink to learn more.

Spotlight

Distribution Moat

The cost of building crypto products and services will continue to decrease.

The rise of open-source software, the proliferation of easily accessible developer platforms, and advances in developer tools have made it faster and more affordable for crypto startups to launch — to the point where creating functional, secure, and scalable crypto products and services is no longer the most difficult part of the equation for many teams.

Simply put: There's less product risk for new entrants.

However, the decrease in product risk has far-reaching second order effects.

With more teams able to bring products and services to market, competition has intensified, and the challenge has moved somewhat away from purely technical execution and toward standing out in a crowded, hyper-competitive landscape. This creates a new and higher bar for success, as developing a functional product or service is no longer enough.

Consequently, even the best-developed crypto products and services are failing to gain widespread traction beyond a core community of early adopters and crypto natives. There are several reasons for this, including complex user interfaces, high learning curves, regulatory uncertainty, and the inherent volatility of crypto markets. For crypto projects, these obstacles make it difficult to attract and retain users in a sustainable manner, and they highlight that the distribution problem is arguably the new bottleneck in the space.

Currently, users and liquidity are fragmented across multiple blockchain networks. Teams that can create seamless experiences across multiple chains — or develop products that can interact with various networks — will be better positioned to attract users and liquidity from across the entire crypto space.

Also, teams that can bridge the gap between crypto natives and the broader population stand to gain a significant advantage. This could mean simplifying user interfaces, providing better educational resources, or offering compelling incentives (not airdrops) for first-time users to try their products or services. In some cases, partnerships with more traditional companies or platforms could be the key to reaching new audiences as well. 

The current dynamics will drive a mindset shift in how crypto products and services are marketed, distributed, and adopted — so start building your distribution moat or get left behind.

Number Of The Week

News Bites

Home Verification: According to crypto 𝕏, one of Ethereum’s biggest moats is the ability to verify the network — even from home — using cheap hardware. With Mithril from Overclock, this will now be possible on Solana as well.

Jupiter Lock: deBridge will be using the newly launched Jupiter Lock vesting contracts to streamline the distribution of its upcoming token. DBR is launching on Jupiter's LFG launchpad, with the exact TGE date to be announced by the deBridge team at Breakpoint.

DeFi Innovations: Speaking of Jupiter, the team has partnered with Chaos Labs to unveil Edge, a new oracle protocol that is already powering >60% of Solana’s perpetual futures volume.

SVM Proliferation: The Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) continues to expand its reach, up next: Atlas. Atlas is built on a custom implementation of the SVM and will be a Layer 2 blockchain that settles to Ethereum mainnet. 

The Frontier: Watch this YouTube video with Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO at Circle, and Arnold Lee, co-founder and CEO at Sphere, in which they discuss the frontier of stablecoin applications. 

Cloudflare Rivalry: Pipe Network has recently closed $10 million in funding to build a decentralised content delivery network (CDN) on Solana to rival Cloudflare.

Caught In 4K

Weekly Take

Keks & Giggles

And that's a wrap!

If you'd like to reach me, respond to this newsletter or reach out to me on 𝕏.

Talk soon!

J264G

_{DISCLAIMER
None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research. Lastly, please be advised that we discuss products and services from our partners from which our team members may hold tokens/equity.}