Solana Economic Zone In Argentina, New Solana Debit Card & More

Welcome back!

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

• Solana Economic Zones: Forma to boost growth of national economies. 

• Solana Debit Card: BasedApp and Sanctum to launch LST-powered debit card.

• High Performance: Firedancer was successfully deployed on Solana Testnet.

Crypto appears to be riding a wave of positive momentum this week ⬇️

Let's capitalise on these vibes and jump right into this week’s newsletter!

Click on any underlined heading/hyperlink to learn more.

Spotlight

Not Bullish Enough 

Recent market volatility may have obscured Solana's robust fundamentals, which are arguably even stronger than current sentiment suggests.

So let's examine some key developments in the Solana ecosystem to gain some perspective.

Solana's infrastructure landscape has seen remarkable growth, with staked validators increasing from 381 to 1,448 in just two years. The introduction of Tinydancer, Solana's first light client, and Mithril, a light, protective, radiant full node client for home verification, promise to further accelerate this expansion.

The Solana ecosystem is also witnessing significant advancements in validator client technology. Firedancer, a new high-performance validator client written in C++, is making substantial progress. Simultaneously, Syndica is developing “Sig”, a Solana validator client written in Zig, while Anza, a team comprising former Solana Labs executives and engineers, is advancing “Agave”, a fork of the original Solana Labs validator client.

Infrastructure improvements have particularly benefited the DeFi sector, enabling Solana to surpass Ethereum in unique active wallets — 4.9 million vs 702,000 in July 2024 — and on-chain trading volume (Ethereum Mainnet). Two DeFi platforms, pump.fun and Raydium, have even occasionally outperformed the 24-hour revenue generation of Ethereum.

Beyond DeFi, Solana is expanding into consumer apps, payments, DePIN, and experimental projects such as the following: 

• Restaking: Spearheaded by Solayer & Cambrian.

• StakeNet: Decentralised Solana stake pool manager.

• Actions & Blinks: Turning any website into a Solana frontend/app.

• Chapter 2: Solana Mobile’s second device after Saga, designed to break up the app store duopoly.

• FORMA: The first-ever Solana Economic Zone in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

• MetaDAO: The world's first market-governed organisation.

Together, these developments have enabled Solana to surpass Ethereum in daily Total Economic Value generation for the first time, further highlighting the network's growing competitiveness.

Institutional interest is also rising, with applications for Solana spot ETFs gaining momentum. 

Having said that, institutional interest in Solana extends beyond just viewing SOL as a commodity; many entities are actively working on ways to incorporate Solana's technology into their operational frameworks. Currently, major players such as Shopify, Stripe, and Visa are exploring and leveraging Solana's technology for payment solutions and operational efficiency.

Overall, the achievements discussed above point to a promising future for Solana, suggesting that the current bullish outlook may not be bullish enough.

Chart Of The Week

News Bites

Solana Economic Zones: Forma is launching Solana Economic Zones to create bridges between the Solana ecosystem and national economies, aiming to foster mutual growth through various initiatives.

High Performance: Firedancer has made significant progress and was recently successfully deployed on Solana Testnet, building its first accepted block.

Solana Debit Card: BasedApp and Sanctum are partnering to launch the first LST-powered debit card, converting staking yields from cardSOL to USDC for real-world purchases — no need for off-ramping. The expected launch of the debit card is by the end of the year.

Actions & Blinks: This new Solana toolkit continues to generate excitement in the developer community. Developers are encouraged to explore the Blinks repository and engage with the Blinks community on 𝕏 for ideas and inspiration.

Ledger History: Triton One has made Solana's ledger history widely available to the community through decentralised means. Additionally, Triton One has introduced new tools that enable users to verify the archive’s integrity, ensuring transparency and reliability.

SVM Expansion: Rome has secured $9M in funding to expand the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) codebase to new execution environments, enabling L2s and applications to use Solana as their shared sequencer.

Decoupled SVM API: A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the decoupled SVM API from Anza. Now, the team has released a reference example of an off-chain SVM state channel built using the decoupled SVM API, demonstrating new possibilities for Solana development.

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.}