Some of Solana's Most Interesting Experiments
Solana has been the hot spot to transact this cycle with its low cost and high speed making it the premier onchain casino.
The network has also increasingly become a hub for experimentation with builders developing a new wave of applications that have expanded how we interact with and use blockchains.
While plenty have questioned how sustainable some of these new experiments are, the best of these projects have unequivocally pushed boundaries.
Let's take a look at some of the protocols showcasing where Solana's builder experimentation is on full display 👇
Where Has Solana Already Innovated?
Solana's SocialFi Chops
Through Telegram bots, memes, and Blinks, Solana demonstrates that SocialFi’s success lies in leveling up trading and speculation via familiar social platforms while also driving the industry toward more user-friendly interactions.
SocialFi, the merger of social networks and decentralized finance, has long been framed as a golden goose. After the flop of Friend.Tech's V2, SocialFi has largely faded from the spotlight. Meanwhile, Solana’s ongoing memecoin activity suggests SocialFi may be more about integrating social platforms into DeFi than applying DeFi to social networks. So, while meme trading isn’t the most inspired catalyst, the coins have shown a successful way to co-mingle social networks with crypto.
However, evolving beyond memecoin trading is crucial, and that’s where Actions and Blinks come in — new Solana tools designed to streamline blockchain interactions in familiar environments. Actions embed onchain transactions into websites or apps via links, buttons, or QR codes. Blinks, or blockchain links, allow these actions to be shared and executed with one click, anywhere online. Although still maturing, Blinks continues Solana’s trend of enabling new blockchain interfaces, further addressing UX challenges.
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DePIN Innovation
Solana’s environment also fosters experimentation, innovation, and traction in the DePIN vertical. DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure) uses blockchains to create networks of physical and digital resources. These networks rely on participants contributing resources in exchange for token rewards.
Currently, Solana currently hosts the most DePIN projects, providing unique technological boons to developers. Solana offers multiple token standards like cNFTs (Compressed NFTs), pNFTs (Programmable NFTs), and Token Extensions for network architecture. As DePIN experiments continue, Solana offers unique tools for developing efficient resource networks, creating new resource-sharing structures for blockchains to enhance and enable.
Where Else is Solana Innovating?
Looking ahead, new protocols on Solana can reinvent governance, expand real-world markets, introduce new onboarding methods, and innovate trading.
▪️ MetaDAO
MetaDAO, a governance experiment on Solana, introduces market-driven decision-making, departing from traditional voting.
MetaDAO uses "futarchy," where participants trade on expected outcomes of proposals rather than voting based on token ownership. For example, if I propose buying a new car for a group to improve gas mileage, the group trades tokens based on their belief in the proposal's success. This incentive drives participants to thoroughly analyze proposals, as their profits depend on the accuracy of their predictions. However, this process wouldn't guarantee improved gas mileage; rather, it reflects the collective assessment of participants based on the information available. After a set period, the market settles based on trading activity, with token holders receiving payouts based on the proposal's outcome. This model boosts participation, reduces whale dominance, and promotes fair governance. It's effective, tested, and gaining interest in the Solana ecosystem, with Drift using MetaDAO for DRIFT token grants.
▪️ Ore
Ore, the proof-of-work token that broke Solana in April, is back with v2.
The new version aims to avoid overburdening Solana and ensure phone and laptop miners can participate, originating from HardHat Chad’s, Ore's founder, intention to introduce people to crypto differently. Instead of asking them to invest in something they don't yet understand — i.e. how onboarding currently works — Ore lets them join and actually use a blockchain-based network first, offering exposure to potential gains without direct investment. This intention, combined with the community's fervor, suggests that HardHat is onto something that could provide a new approach to onboarding people into crypto.
▪️ Smort
Smort is a lossless prediction market for Solana price built on the back of smortSOL, a liquid staking token (LST), and Sanctum, the protocol for whitelisted validators to create LSTs which it launched from.
Before its recent airdrop, Sanctum announced a future plan focused on building an LST-based economy, utilizing yields to create a range of products beyond capital efficiency. Smort is among the first, offering a lossless prediction game where only yield is at stake. Players predict if SOL's price will rise or fall in a week. Winners get double yield, taking it from the losers, who only lose their yield, not their SOL. Fewer winners mean a higher APY boost, up to 900 times the native staking APY! Despite the buzz around prediction markets, Smort demonstrates a unique level of creativity, experimenting with how staking yield can be a commodity to reimagine the limits of what LSTs can enable.
▪️ SkyTrade
As experimentation goes, SkyTrade stands out as a new platform aiming to create a decentralized marketplace for airspace — the vertical space above a property that can be bought, sold, or rented — a market estimated at $30T globally.
SkyTrade enables property owners to monetize their airspace by renting it to drone companies and other businesses needing access, whether for property development, establishing helicopter pads, or other uses. This opens new income for property owners, especially in cities like New York and London, where airspace can sell for millions. However, many owners are unaware of their air space’ value or how to sell them. Blockchains offer a secure and transparent way to handle air rights, cutting traditional market complexities, with Solana aiding SkyTrade by providing compressed NFTs to issue low-cost ownership records, keeping platform costs down.
Solana’s environment has driven a wave of experimentation that is reshaping how we interact with blockchains, what they can be used for, and what life onchain may look like.
Through Telegram bots, memes, and Blinks, Solana has developed new methods for blockchain interaction, while also showing how to integrate social networks with crypto. This underscores the importance of meeting users where they are, both in familiar online spaces and interfaces, to drive industry adoption. Further, the extent of the network’s token standards allows the chain to house some of the potentially most impactful applications of crypto, creating more efficient and available resource networks with DePIN. This environment allows developers to experiment and innovate, helping crypto grow by redefining governance with MetaDAO, introducing new onboarding methods with Ore, pushing LST boundaries with Smort, or enabling large, yet nascent markets with SkyTrade.
Taken together, these applications demonstrate how Solana’s environment helps us better understand how to use blockchains, and what to use them for.