How Solana Simplified Crypto

I’ve always said this to my friends, but I thought this time I’d share this to the world so here we go.

sol ecosystem art by hans

Adoption is key.

Back in 2006, the internet was already all over the world. Mostly. Still, folks at Silicon Valley just couldn’t seem to let their marketing push for digital adoption mainly because internet in those days wasn’t as ubiquitous (I Googled that term) as it is today. In fact, for one to access internet, one has to find an internet cafe, stay for a few hours doing your internet stuff, then leave.

This was a setback. You see, for an economy to function properly, it has to meet a certain, “standard”. Its not enough for technology to be merely superior for everyone to use it. It has to first be available within reach.

There are plenty of examples of better technology that didn’t make it:

1. Betamax over VHS
2. Blu-ray over DVD
3. NGR (no glasses required) 3D screens over standard TV

glasses free sony 3d screen

This is because for the technology to be a standard, it has to meet two crucial things:

Momentum, and Ease Of Use.

SIMPLICITY

Consider the 2nd most visited website on Earth, YouTube. (https://www.similarweb.com/website/youtube.com/)

Back in 2006, the YouTube audience still came from internet cafes, and selected homes that have their own computers and internet connection. Not everyone can afford a laptop, and there were no smartphones then.

But when T-Mobile introduced G1, Android became so popular that it surpassed the sales of any other phone manufacturer, leading Android’s parent company, Google, to integrate one of its projects — YouTube — into its ecosystem as a default video app for all smartphones.

G1 was not the first one to adapt Android, but because Android worked so well (and so smooth) with Google, YouTube, and Gmail, it quickly became the number one choice for those who are just getting in on the internet world. (Remember that not everyone had laptops and internet was still a new experience)

Back then, I couldn’t have imagined my grandparents using a computer. In contrast, these days, even my grandma can use YouTube.

THE BLOCKCHAIN ADAPTION DILEMMA

So, that brings us to another new development of the internet — the blockchain.

With the rampant explosion of credit card scams, Blockchain is a technology that removes the need for honesty — once and for all. I call it automated honesty, if you will, because of its inherent basic formula that is similar to a wedding, where,

only witnessed transactions are valid and the unseen are invalid.

In a wedding, there should be at least 2 witnesses. In blockchain, there should be at least 3 witnesses to make the transaction irreversible, and 6 witnesses to make it valid and permanent on record.

In other words, blockchain is just a ledger that serves as the backbone of the entire cryptocurrency world.

Bitcoin was the first of its kind, and, it was succeeded by Ethereum in an effort to address Bitcoin’s inability to serve billions of humankind. This is called Scaling, or the ability to serve billions of transactions per second.

Imagine explaining this to my grandma.

SOLANA MAKES CRYPTO SEEM LIKE A KIDS APP

When I first saw the Solana ecosystem, I was blown away at how easy it is. Lemme just…. lay it out like this:

1. No waiting time
2. No learning curve
3. Everything is visual
4. No text, purely icons.
5. Timely launched projects, completing its own circle of apps.
6. They have a free Spotify-like app called Audius that’s free. (how many times should I repeat free)
7. They have their own art marketplace called Solsea
8. They have their own Facebook-like app called Grapes — which avoids scammers by default
9. Their Phantom wallet has a built-in exchange called Serum

.. and the list goes on.

To me, it seems like Solana was built by people who really care about the user side of experience. Colors are just right, the app is so intuitive and user friendly, and support is very consistent in responding to error and bug reports. It seems as if it was built by Gen-Zs.

Adoption is key, and the key to adoption is Momentum and Ease Of Use. And Solana just seems to be the only blockchain project that have checked all those boxes. Solana just made crypto as easy as using a YouTube app.