Solfate
Welcome back to this week’s edition of the Solfate Snapshot newsletter, where we’ll be diving into some of the biggest recent updates from the Solana ecosystem over the last few weeks! We’ll be going over multiple product launches, new community milestones, major partnerships, and much more from the Solfate team!
Snapshot
- Phantom Milestone: Phantom, the crypto wallet for DeFi & NFTs, hits over 7 million monthly active users, boosting Solana's ecosystem growth.
- Solfate Podcast: Latest episode features Luzid Validator, discussing the new Solana Test Validator.
- Gameshift x Google Cloud: Solana Labs partners with Google Cloud to introduce Gameshift platform, facilitating integration of digital assets into traditional Web2 games.
- Renaissance Hackathon Winners: Largest online Solana hackathon with 8,300+ participants, 1,071 final project submissions across various categories. Winners include Ore, Banger, High TPS Solana Client, and more.
- Franklin Templeton Digital Assets Report: Positive outlook on Solana's growth post-FTX acquisition.
- Cupcake's New Beta: Cupcake launches gamified social platform beta, engaging users with Web3 experiences through party games.
- Cubik iceSOL Launch: Cubik partners with Sanctum to launch liquid staking token $iceSOL, focusing on funding public goods on Solana.
Phantom Passes 7 Million Daily Active Users
The most friendly multi-chain crypto wallet built for DeFi & NFTs, Phantom have had explosive success. They have recently hit a massive milestone of over 7,000,000 monthly active users! This marks a huge win for the Solana ecosystem’s growth as a whole, and we are excited to watch the continued growth.
Podcast: Thorsten and Luzid Test Validator
We’ve had some great conversations recently through the Solfate Podcast with multiple founders and builders in the Solana ecosystem. Be sure to check out the latest episode podcast from Solfate, as we hit the milestone of our 50th episode!
Luzid Validator: Solana Test Validator on Steroids with Thorsten
Gameshift x Google Cloud
Solana Labs has recently announced a partnership with Google Cloud to bring the Gameshift platform to their customers, allowing game studios and developers to utilize Gameshift to experiment with the integration of digital game assets and user-generated content into traditional Web2 games.
According to a tweet by Gameshift, a number of game studios built on the Google Cloud are interested in working with digital assets, yet the technical complexities continue to be a massive barrier to more widespread adoption. By introducing the Gameshift platform to these studios, developers will have an all-in-one platform to enhance their games with Web3 experiences.
Renaissance Hackathon Winners
The Renaissance global online hackathon marked the 9th official Solana Foundation hackathon, and this one powered by the team at Colosseum. The Solana hackathons continue to be a pillar of creative development in the Solana ecosystem, marking the beginnings of some of the most used protocols in the industry today.
The Renaissance Hackathon saw submissions from a total of 95+ different countries building across the areas of Infrastructure, Gaming, DePIN, DAOs, DeFi and Payments, and Consumer Applications. There was a total of 8,300+ participants with a total of 1,071 final project submissions, making this the largest online Solana hackathon to date. Here are the winners of the various prizes:
Grand Prize
Ore - A novel digital currency allowing users to mine $ORE utilizing a PoW algorithm
The winners of the unique categories:
Consumer Applications
- 1st: Banger- Marketplace for trading tweets and supporting creators
- 2nd: Wootz Browser - Crypto-enabled browser
- 3rd: Chomp - Gamified social consensus platform
- 4th: Movement - Trading app built to assist users efficiently interact with memecoins
- 5th: DePlan - Payments platform
Infrastructure
- 1st: High TPS Solana Client - New client that utilizes efficient scheduling and pipeline optimizations
- 2nd: Torque - A protocol for builders to deploy marketing strategies
- 3rd: xCrow - Accelerating the growth of builders focusing on escrow on Solana
- 4th: Cambrian - Restaking platform
- 5th: Merit - On-chain points as tokens protocol
Gaming
- 1st: Meshmap+City Champ
- 2nd: Legends of the Sun
- 3rd: Mining Badger Game
- 4th: Moon Boi Universe
- 5th: Maneko Pet
DeFi & Payments
- 1st: Urani - Intent-based swap aggregator
- 2nd: GLAM - Decentralized on-chain asset management protocol
- 3rd: Nomad - Payments app (focus on off-ramping)
- 4th: Ripe - Merchant payments platform focused on Asia
- 5th: Exponent - Derivatives protocol for trading the yield of DeFi products on Solana
DePIN
- 1st: Blockmesh - An open network allowing users to monetize excess bandwidth
- 2nd: DeCharge - EV charging network
- 3rd: dBunker - DePIN Financial Derivatives Platform
- 4th: CHRO+ - Decentralized health database
- 5th: Pomerene - DePIN for International Trade
DAOs & Communities
- 1st: DeTask - AI-enabled product development platform
- 2nd: DeStreet - Solana Mobile app enabling communities to trade together
- 3rd: TokenGator - Managing dynamic NFT collections
- 4th: Maindocs - Create fully customizable and verifiable financial documents
- 5th: Quadratus Protocol - On-chain DAO Governance model
Franklin Templeton Digital Assets Report
A recent perspective report was released by the Franklin Templeton Digital Assets Report covering Solana and its resurgence post-FTX.
With a very positive outlook on the future of the Solana ecosystem’s growth, read the full report here.
Cupcake Launches New Beta
The gamified social platform Cupcake recently launched its new beta product, a game platform allowing users to interact with crypto culture through a wide variety of familiar party games. With a new take on Web3 SocialFi, Cupcake looks to onboard new users into the Web3 space through fun, gamified experiences.
Cubik Launches iceSOL
The team at Cubik recently announced the launch of $iceSOL in partnership with Sanctum, their new liquid staking token focusing on funding public goods on Solana.
Learn more about iceSOL, Cubik, and Sanctum in the announcement here.
That’s all for this edition of the Solfate Snapshot! Be sure to subscribe for all the latest in the Solana ecosystem, keeping you up-to-date with new protocol updates, token & product launches, fundraises, and more!