Colosseum Codex: State of Solana, Chainlink Data Streams, Superteam Lounge
State of Solana Q3 2024, Global Developer Market Share, GMX Chainlink Data Streams, Superteam Members Lounge, Time.fun Migrating to Solana, Arcium + Inpher
📰 State of Solana Q3 2024
In Q3 2024, Solana solidified its position as a leading blockchain platform through advancements in developer tools and infrastructure.
This report from Messari highlights some key developments that have shaped the Solana ecosystem during this period and factors that are driving its growth going forward.
Some of the key highlights include:
Blinks Adoption: Since their launch in June by Dialect and the Solana Foundation, over 500 blinks have been created. Blinks convert Solana actions into metadata-rich URLs, enabling immediate transaction previews in wallets and interactive buttons.
ZK Compression: Light Protocol and Helius introduced ZK Compression, a scaling primitive now live on mainnet. It allows for efficient storage and cheaper operations for any token or account, not just NFTs.
AirShip by Helius: Leveraging ZK Compression, AirShip provides an efficient way to perform mass airdrops. It's a practical tool that can be integrated into your projects to enhance user distribution strategies.
Embedded Wallets: Phantom launched embedded wallets, enabling users to create wallets using just an email, Google, or Apple account. Privy also added support for Solana. These developments reduce onboarding friction, allowing you to reach a broader audience with less technical barriers.
Agave Client Updates (V1.18): The new transaction scheduler improves deterministic transaction ordering and inclusion. Transactions with higher priority fees are now more likely to be included in blocks, providing predictable behavior crucial for applications relying on transaction prioritization.
New Mobile Platforms: The unveiling of the Seeker phone (formerly Solana Mobile Chapter 2) and JamboPhone2 provides new hardware platforms with integrated hardware wallets and Solana support. These devices encourage the development of mobile-first dApps, offering new avenues to reach users.
Client Development: Firedancer is now live on mainnet in non-voting mode, with Frankendancer also live. Teams like Jito, Syndica, Mithril, and Tinydancer are making strides in client diversity.
Hackathons: The Colosseum's Radar Hackathon received 1,359 project submissions, reflecting a broad developer community. Participating in these events and leveraging grant programs can provide funding and support for your projects.
🌎 Shifting Global Developer Market Share
Electric Capital’s insights on crypto development underscore a shift in the web3 space.
The US remains the leading country in terms of developer count, holding 18.8% of crypto developers, but it’s facing increasing competition from other nations, particularly India (11.8%) and the UK (4.2%).
Notably, 81% of crypto developers now reside outside the US.
One notable trend is the US’s 51% decline in crypto developer share since 2015, even as the industry surged from a $5 billion to a $2.4 trillion market.
While much of the crypto world is associated with hubs in California and New York, 64% of US-based crypto developers actually live outside these regions.
This distribution represents an opportunity for crypto job creation across the country.
These findings are based on extensive analysis, tracking over 200 million crypto-related Git commits across more than 350,000 repositories, with geo data derived from 110,000 developers’ self-reported locations.
🖇️ Chainlink Data Streams
GMX-Solana, an upcoming expansion of the GMX V2 protocol to the Solana blockchain, has announced the adoption of Chainlink Data Streams as its official data oracle solution.
This collaboration aims to enhance the performance and security of the GMX-Solana perps DEX by providing secure, low-latency market data essential for execution prices, funding rate calculations, liquidations, and other critical features.
GMX-Solana will utilize Chainlink's high-frequency market data to ensure accurate and timely information for traders.
Developers can leverage Chainlink Data Streams to high-performance DeFi applications that require immediate data updates.
By leveraging Chainlink Data Streams on Solana, developers can access real-time, low-latency market data, enabling them to build DeFi apps that offer users enhanced speed, security, and functionality.
GMX-Solana Adopts Chainlink Data Streams as Official Data Oracle Solution on Solana
🎪 Superteam Members' Lounge
Superteam has unveiled the Superteam Members' Lounge, a new platform designed to unite Solana developers and builders from around the world.
This space aims to leverage the global network of Superteam members by providing exclusive resources including:
- Introductions: Request introductions to anyone in the Solana ecosystem.
- Members-Only Job Board: Access exclusive job opportunities within the community.
- Fundraising Resources: Obtain support and resources for your fundraising efforts.
- Exclusive Workshops: Participate in specialized workshops, live streams, and AMAs.
- Dedicated Mobile App: Stay connected with a mobile app for easy access to all Superteam activities.
While local groups will continue using their own Discord, Telegram, or WhatsApp channels, the Members' Lounge serves as an additional space to enhance collaboration between countries.
Existing Superteam Members should check their inbox for an invitation. Non-members can apply for a grant on Superteam Earn and start contributing to the Solana ecosystem.
Introducing The Superteam Members' Lounge
⏲️ Time.fun Migrating to Solana
Time.fun, a platform to tokenize creators' time and audience interactions, has announced their migration from Base L2 to Solana.
~ @0xKawz
The team feels a stronger connection with Solana's community, which they describe as energetic, supportive, and closely aligned with the demographics of their target users: degenerate traders, speculators, and everyday enthusiasts.
Solana's ecosystem is also perceived as more unified, with less fragmentation and a clear and effective roadmap that provides confidence in building and scaling their platform.
🤐 Arcium + Inpher
Arcium, Solana’s confidential computing startup, has acquired Web2 leader Inpher, known for its advanced encrypted data and secure machine learning tech.
This means Arcium can now offer a decentralized network where encrypted computations happen seamlessly, perfect for developers who need to build secure, privacy-first apps.
With Inpher’s tech integrated, Solana devs can build projects around private AI, data sharing, or secure DeFi without needing to master complex encryption.
Arcium’s platform will include a Python SDK and the ability to run private machine learning on distributed datasets. Arcium also announced a plan to open-source all Inpher patents.
Arcium Acquires Core Tech and Team from Inpher, Supercharging Confidential Computing
⚡ Quick Hits
Access Real-Time Solana Data: 3 Tools Compared - QuickNode
Earning in Crypto: A Guide to Start Earning Full or Part Time - Superteam
Solana Changelog October 30th Recap - Compass
Web3 Needs Empathy (Part 1) - DappaDan
Introducing Syndica Cloud: Our V2 RPC Implementation - Syndica
Institutional investments in Solana blockchain DApps up 54% in Q3 - Cointelegraph
Introducing Worthy: The Definitive Solana Credit Rating Protocol - Matt Pfeifer
Registration for the Solana Super Game Jam is Open - @SuperteamVN
Solana Auditors Bootcamp 2024 Recap - @AckeeBlockchain
LI.FI Aggregation Protocol Expands to Solana - LI.FI
⚙️ Tools & Resources
awesome-trident-tests is a collection of Trident Fuzzing tests including links to guides and more.
Solana AMM SDK is a simple SDK for market making on Solana that allows anyone to swap any token on any dex, spam makers, or generate volume in 3 lines of code.
💸 Funding
- Ellipsis Labs, known for building the Phoenix DEX, has raised $21 million led by Haun Ventures, with additional backing from Electric Capital, Anatoly Yakovenko, and Paradigm to advance Atlas, a "verifiable finance" blockchain.
- Fragmetric, a native liquid restaking protocol, has completed its Builder round of financing, attracting investments from prominent figures in the Solana ecosystem including Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Jito Labs founder Lucas Bruder, Backpack founder Tristan, and others.
👩🔧 Get Hired
- Triton One is hiring a Senior Backend and Infrastructure Developer to build developer tools for high-performance blockchains.
- Sonic SVM is hiring a Lead BD role for Gaming, Solana, Growth, and Community.
🎧 Listen to This
The Index
What is the future of Solana Virtual Machines? In this episode of The Index, co-founders Joanna Zeng and Nazreen M. share their journey from traditional finance to blockchain innovation. Joanna, a former Wall Street currency trader, offers insights into leading a blockchain startup, describing it as her "third child"—a testament to the dedication behind Soon’s mission. Nazreen breaks down the OP Stack and Solana VM integration, highlighting how these tools enhance multi-chain support and transaction speed.
The Solana Optimistic Network (SOON) is a decentralized platform aiming to improve scalability, security, and interoperability in blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi). By providing tools and infrastructure to build a decoupled SVM stack, SOON optimizes transaction efficiency for Web3 applications.
Discover how Soon achieved rapid growth, bypassed traditional VC funding for angel investors, and launched a DevNet in six months. The conversation also covers their commitment to sustainable, real-world solutions and partnership with ABK Labs to power the next wave of decentralized applications. This episode is packed with insights on vision, strategy, and the future of Web3.
Scaling Web3: Inside the Solana Optimistic Network (Soon) with with Joanna Zeng & Nazreen M.
Bonus Episodes
The Intersection Of Crypto & AI | Andrej Radonjic - Lightspeed
Andrej Radonjic joins Lightspeed to discuss the recent Grass airdrop, how crypto can help fix the internet, the intersection of AI & crypto, and much more.
Web3 Artist to Community Leader w/ Superteam Germany (feat. Bekka) - Solfate
Bekka, co-founder of Superteam Germany, shares her journey from Canada to Germany, detailing her transition from the art world to Web3 and the founding of Superteam Germany to support the Solana ecosystem. She emphasizes the value of in-person connections for fostering collaboration, discusses the unique focuses of different regional Superteams, and shares insights on the evolving NFT space.
Bridge Founder on Their $1.1B Stripe Acquisition | Zach Abrams - Empire
In this episode Bridge founder Zach Abrams discusses how they built a billion-dollar company in just 18 months before being acquired by Stripe. The conversation covers their rapid growth from launch during the USDC de-peg to becoming essential infrastructure for governments, fintechs, and global companies.
Follow @mikehale on X or Warpcast!
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