Solana makes a (controversial) move into mobile

It’s a multi-blockchain world, and while Bitcoin is arguably untouchable, competition among other blockchains is harsh.

Ethereum was the first network created specifically to serve as a smart contract platform, allowing people to build DApps, or decentralized applications running on a blockchain.

The idea was excellent – and soon a plethora of aspiring blockchains appeared, all aiming to do the same thing and all trying to propose a better mechanism. BNB chain, Cardano, Solana, Avalanche, Tron, Near, Internet Computer, even layer-2 solutions like Polygon… all are fighting for developers’ attention and hoping that the next killer DApp will be built on them. So beyond technical characteristics, there’s a big deal of marketing and strategy involved into growing a successful blockchain.

? Yesterday Solana made an important move, announcing a software kit for developing mobile DApps and its own smartphone, which will be released next year.

The software kit goes by the name of Solana Mobile Stack and is designed for Android (although its wallet part is to be compatible with all mobile devices). It also contains a custody and payments solutions, as well as NFT minting and a better access to DeFi and crypto games. The smartphone will be called Saga and contain a “secure element” protecting users’ data.
Of course, projects like these come with an incentive attached: Solana will be launching a $10 million developer ecosystem fund to motivate mobile creators.

Solana’s move was perceived as controversial, namely because the blockchain itself is not without problems: being unable to process a big amount of transaction and effectively deter DDoS attacks, it is regularly clogged or blocked for many hours – which is not only annoying, but can have disastrous consequences when it comes to trading and DeFi. Moreover, its internal clock, on which its Proof-of-History (a variant of PoS) consensus relies, is running late by 30 minutes already ⏰

Expanding into mobile devices is a very smart move, as even today most web3 applications require a computer. However, will the developers be willing to devote themselves to building on a blockchain that still cannot ensure a continuous block creation – that is another question.