GM DOers! 😎
Solana’s largest annual conference, Breakpoint, is happening right now in Amsterdam 🇳🇱.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to the event but we’re here to give you the lowdown on the three most exciting innovations coming out of Breakpoint so far.
First up, Phantom rolled out Camera Mint, a feature in its mobile wallet that allows users to turn photos & videos into NFTs, seamlessly.
Secondly, Firedancer, a new Solana upgrade is set to take Solana’s throughput from 60k TPS (transactions per second) to over 1 million TPS. 🤯
If implemented correctly, Firedancer could make Solana the fastest & most scalable blockchain in the world.
Lastly, Solana just announced a partnership with AWS.
So many breakthroughs from Breakpoint… Let’s break them all down. ⏬
Read until the end to find out if you should buy $SOL.
P.S - Today’s newsletter is the last one you can collect to enter this week’s raffle!
Collect it for free & enter via the Onchain Gift Shop. 🎁
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Phantom’s Camera Mint 🤳
If you haven’t used the Phantom wallet yet, you should! It’s up there with the Coinbase wallet in terms of UX.
And since they’ve added support for Ethereum & Polygon, Phantom has become much more than what it used to be – a Solana wallet.
With the Camera Mint feature, they’re taking it a step further, allowing anyone to mint photos & videos from their phones.
How it works:
We actually tested this feature ourselves by minting one of our favorite memes, on the Solana blockchain.
It took us a couple of clicks & less than 1 dollar to mint. Very smooth.
And we want to send it to you! 💜
So reply with your Solana wallet address and we’ll send this meme (onchain) to 1 lucky person.
Why is Camera Mint Important?
This isn’t just about minting memes and photos onchain. The Camera Mint feature can unlock a world of opportunities on Solana.
For starters, it allows for initiatives like these, where people can send moments from a conference & get featured in an album.
It is way easier to do it like this than via Telegram or Whatsapp, especially when there's a crypto crowd invlolved.
Furthermore, think about how difficult it is to prove that a certain piece of content is yours.
By taking an image IRL & uploading it onchain, you can immediately share it online and prove that this came from you.
The possibilities are endless here. Super cool to see this come out of the Solana ecosystem. 👏
However, the ~$1 fee was surprising to us. We expected that fee to be much, much lower, especially if you want the masses to use it.
I see Camera Mint as the equivalent of posting a picture on social media (Instagram, Twitter etc).
Paying almost $1 for each upload is simply not sustainable if you’re aiming for the masses to use this feature.
WTF is Firedancer? 🔥💃
TL;DR - Firedancer is a new upgrade on Solana that aims to take the blockchain from supporting 60k TPS (transactions per second), to 1.2 million TPS. 🤯
It just launched on testnet Yesterday.
To put things in perspective, Visa needs 60k transactions per second, while Twitter needs about 24k transactions per second.
If implemented successfully Firedancer will allow Solana to settle all of Twitter and Visa transactions onchain!
For even more context, Ethereum and Bitcoin support only tens of TPS, and Ethereum L2s like Arbitrum and Optimism can handle thousands.
Solana, with Firedancer, is on track to revolutionize transaction speeds.
Firedancer also provides Solana with a 2nd validator client which makes the chain more resilient to bugs and outages. For comparison Ethereum has 7 validator clients.
If you want to learn more about Firedancer, check out our tweet, where we highlight the 10 benefits of this new upgrade.
AWS x Solana 🚀
Solana nodes can now be deployed quickly on AWS using an app called AWS Blockchain Node Runners. ⛓
This makes it easier for enterprises to build on Solana by deploying their own consensus and Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) nodes with less effort and overhead.
The 3 main benefits:
Easier deployment of Solana nodes on AWS, lowering technological effort and overhead.
Quicker launch of decentralized applications (dApps) on Solana.
Cost benefit for entities lacking infrastructure or finances to build nodes.
Solana is the second blockchain supported by Blockchain Node Runner, after Ethereum.
The Bull Case for Solana 🐂
Listen to our freshly released podcast with Nick Frostbutter, as we chat about the bull case for Solana & $SOL.
If you’re looking to make some $$$ in the bull market, you better listen!
Wrapping Up – Should You Buy $SOL? 🤔
Solana has been on fire lately. Not only from a price action perspective (up 100% in the last 2 weeks) but also because of what's being built on top of it.
Here’s some exciting developments on Solana since April:
1⃣ Homebase DAO tokenized a rental property sale via $USDC & implemented fractional property ownership with Phantom, enabling monthly rent payments.
2⃣ Visa expanded its onchain cross-border payment system with Solana.
3⃣ MakerDAO looks to fork the Solana tech to create NewChain.
4⃣ Solana Pay integrated with Shopify.
5⃣ Collector Crypt brought Pokemon cards on Solana.
6⃣ Eclipse, a new L2, chose to commit its transactions on Solana, and settle them on Ethereum.
Does all of this bullishness mean that you should invest in Solana by buying $SOL?
While we believe that $SOL will do well in the coming bull market, we’re aware of certain risks that could hurt both the ecosystem and the $SOL token.
Read our recent PRO report on Solana’s Tokenomics to get up to speed.
Thanks for reading. And remember, you're strong, you’re powerful, you’re alpha! ❤
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not financial advice. Conduct your own research and consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions or taking any action based on the content.