Solana Mobile Stack and flagship device, Saga, changes everything (2024)

I believe that the most powerful thing about crypto is the proliferation of public/private key cryptography for normal, everyday people. For over a decade, the most powerful self-custody experiences in crypto – the ones where users are signing transactions as easily and often as they can send emails – have been stuck on desktop. After all this time, the preferred method of interacting with crypto still involves installing a browser extension and plugging in a thumb drive.

In the past two years, Solana has seen rapid growth to millions of active addresses. It’s now the largest platform for NFTs, the most user-friendly onramp to crypto. Through a global community of developers launching thousands of diverse applications across DeFi, collectibles, gaming, payments and more, millions of people are already using private keys to authenticate transactions.

But every day, I hear stories of people leaving dinners, conferences, and vacations to get back to their computers and sign important transactions. The mints, trades, listings, and transfers critical to the daily life of crypto-lovers are dragging us away from our lives with others. The only companies with the resources to materialize the self-custody mobile future we’re all dreaming of, Apple and Google, have had no updates to give on their roadmaps for crypto.

It’s time for web3 devs to start building for mobile usage instead of around mobile usage. The blockers to achieving this goal are clear: The app store policies of Google and Apple haven’t evolved for web3. The custody solutions on phones haven’t materialized. The software and hardware haven’t been natively integrated.

It’s time for crypto to go mobile.

It’s time for the secure, biometric-integrated custody solutions we’ve been dreaming of, that have somehow failed to materialize on the roadmaps of the mobile giants. It’s time for an app store governed by users and developers, with no restrictions on tokens or NFTs, allowing for web3-native distribution models that could never be possible in the App Store and Google Play. These features have been technically possible for a while, so there’s no reason to keep waiting.

Less than a year ago, the Solana Labs engineering team started to re-imagine web3 for mobile. We started from first principles and focused relentlessly on removing friction for self-custody. We’re now ready to lift the veil.

  • We are introducing today the open source Solana Mobile Stack for Android, enabling native Android web3 apps on Solana (read more here).
  • Solana Mobile Stack includes Seed Vault, a secure custody protocol for mobile that facilitates instant signing of transactions while keeping private keys partitioned from wallets, apps and the Android operating system, along with Mobile Wallet Adapter and integrated payments capabilities.
  • Solana dApp Store, a new app distribution system on Android for decentralized apps.
  • We are revealing Saga, a flagship-quality Android phone shipping with Solana Mobile Stack by Q1 2023, with Seed Vault fully integrated in the trust zone and Secure Element (read more here).
  • We are teasing the Saga Pass, an NFT accompanying the first wave of Saga devices and the first ticket to participating in community governance of the Solana Mobile Stack platform.

Any one of these things would be an achievement, but together this is the start of a huge leap forward for crypto adoption on mobile. It’s why we have support from across the entire Solana ecosystem, especially Coral, FTX, Kiyomi/OpenEra, Magic Eden, Okay Bears, Orca, Phantom, StepN, and more. Thank you, one and all.

Solana ecosystem developers have a hunger for constant improvement. Activity on Solana continues to climb, with monthly active fee payers at 2.3 million in June, up 44% from December, and daily programs used on Solana at 1,050 in June, up 169% from December. Attendance at our first 15hacker housesthe past year eclipsed 10,000. The ecosystem of validators and engineers are working hard on performance upgrades (join Discord for more).

The opportunity right now is to build features and experiences that take advantage of a smoother ability to do web3 transactions on mobile, to carry digital assets around anywhere (and how that unlocks new use cases), and an ability to tie mobile payments capabilities to web3 payments rails to eliminate intermediaries.

I’ve lived and breathed mobile for much of my career. I know how powerful it can be for sparking unexpected use cases and global reach. I participated in the earliest wireless technology that brought the first basic mobile games to cell phones and from that we are well into the 5G which is connecting everyone to everything.

I’m more excited about this than anything we’ve done since we launched Solana. Now, just like then, I can’t predict what will be built in the next few years– but I know this is a step we felt like we had to take.

Solana Mobile Stack and flagship device, Saga, changes everything (2024)

FAQs

What does Solana Saga do? ›

The Solana Saga integrates Web3 capabilities directly into its operating system, enabling users to mint NFTs, trade cryptocurrencies, and interact with decentralized apps seamlessly. This integration provides a unique user experience tailored to the needs of blockchain enthusiasts and crypto investors.

How much is a Solana Saga phone? ›

It is expected to ship in the first half of 2025. The first Saga phone was priced at $1,000 on launch but was later reduced to $599 after the device initially struggled to gain traction.

What is Solana mobile stack? ›

The Solana Mobile Stack (SMS) is a collection of key technologies for building mobile applications that can interact with the Solana blockchain.

Is Solana mobile owned by Solana? ›

The introduction of the Saga Phone by Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of Solana Labs, marks a notable entry into the mobile market with a focus on blockchain technology integration. This Android smartphone aims to blend conventional mobile functionalities with the unique capabilities of the Solana blockchain.

How to turn Solana into real money? ›

How to sell Solana
  1. Create your free Kraken account. Verify your details to get started.
  2. Send SOL to your Kraken account. Deposit SOL in your secure Kraken account.
  3. Sell Solana instantly. Enjoy ultra-fast SOL transactions & withdraws.

What do you use Solana for? ›

Solana also enables Play-2-Earn systems in games, meaning players can earn cryptocurrencies and NFTs while playing. Solana supports several popular games, including multiplayer worlds such as Chainers and Aurory, as well as survival-puzzle games like Naga Kingdom.

Why is the Solana Saga phone so expensive? ›

High Demand for Saga Phones Causes Prices to Soar on eBay

Initially, the Solana Saga phone experienced poor sales. However, the scenario flipped as traders recognized an opportunity for arbitrage. Since its launch, each phone has come bundled with an airdrop of 30 million BONK tokens.

How much is my Solana worth? ›

The live price of Solana is $ 186.04 per (SOL / USD) with a current market cap of $ 86.43B USD.

How to get Solana for free? ›

SOL faucets may ask you to finish isle tasks and reward you with Solana. The task may be to participate in a survey finish a quiz or even watch an ad. There are major SOL faucets where you can do the above-mentioned tasks or other tasks to earn SOL for free.

What does app stack do on Android? ›

An app stack is like a digital toolbox, containing a collection of software tools that collaborate to perform specific tasks. These stacks enhance the efficiency of using multiple apps on your device by consolidating them into a unified interface. Think of it as your go-to digital workspace.

What is Solana hack? ›

In the late evening of Tuesday, the 3rd of August 2022, several wallets on the Solana network were hacked. The attack lasted several hours and its main target was the most popular hot wallet in the Solana ecosystem: the Phantom wallet. Hackers allegedly took possession of the private keys of some users.

What app uses Solana? ›

The Solana Wallet Adapter is integrated with the Exodus Mobile app, allowing users to connect their Solana decentralized applications (dApps) to their wallets or access a vast sea of dApps from several blockchain ecosystems.

How much is a saga phone? ›

This innovation is a response to the market's demand for comprehensive Web3 functionality. Notably, Saga faced initial struggles, debuting at $1000, but a strategic price adjustment to $599 later garnered attention.

Is Google using Solana? ›

Solana is designed as a high performance blockchain optimized for use cases across finance, NFTs, payments, and gaming. This dataset, built and maintained by the Solana Community as part of the Google Cloud Public Datasets program, captures and publishes block data in near real-time.

Which network is Solana using? ›

Solana is a separate and independent blockchain network with its native token (SOL) and infrastructure. While Solana and Ethereum are both blockchain networks, they are not interoperable, and Solana has its own unique features and capabilities.

What is Solana supposed to do? ›

Solana is a blockchain platform designed to facilitate decentralized app (dApp) development and support crypto-currency transactions.

What does the Solana network do? ›

Solana (SOL) is a high-performance blockchain platform aiming for fast and low-cost transactions. SOL token is used for network operations, governance, and staking on the Solana ecosystem.

How does Solana wormhole work? ›

The Wormhole messaging framework is an important tool for powering crypto bridges. It enables the transfer of value between blockchains, such as from Ethereum to Solana. This enhances user experience and broadens the scope of possible blockchain interactions.

What makes Solana so special? ›

Solana's fast, scalable, and programmable blockchain provides the infrastructure necessary for building apps that can achieve global adoption. Its massive throughput, low cost, and fast finality make it one of the best-performing blockchains available.

References

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